Another reason not to live in Texas

clifp said:
Any current or former Texan want to start a thread.

Ten reasons to live in Texas?
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1. Jobs.
2. public schools are really excellent in Texas.
3. No income tax.
4. TALL guys - - or is it those cowboy boots?
5. Lots of wide open space (mostly filled with fire ants, snakes, etc., but you can't have everything)
6. It doesn't snow (much, at least in south Texas).
7. Honest, "what you see is what you get", salt of the earth residents for the most part (or local culture)
8. Cheap houses.
9. Cult du jour mentality in Texas provides entertainment if you are agnostic
10. It's so big that when you live there, it seems like the U.S. is a foreign country far, far away. Yet they speak English, of sorts.
 
ls99 said:
By the way I learned English in NY state
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Having lived over most of America and a few foreign countries, I'd have to say that the most foreign and incomprehensible of them all was New York. My latest data point is Manhattan but I'd hate to hold that against the rest of the state.

After nearly 20 years in Hawaii, when I get a New Yorker on the phone we don't get anything accomplished unless they talk at half-speed... or send me an e-mail.

Leonidas said:
The South was colonized under a very different economic and social model than the North.
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Georgia was colonized under the same selection system as Australia's Botany Bay, but I don't think that's what you're implying.

Did you have my college history prof who referred to it as "the War of Northern Aggression"?

And Walt, you don't even want to know the etymology of the phrase "to shoot a Yankee"...
 
clifp said:
It seems me the Texas sucks threads are pretty common and obviously a source of American humor for more than 100 years.

There are 24 million Texans, now I sure that many of them aren't right in the head. (Dry heat will do that), but they can't all be crazy or can they :)?. Any current or former Texan want to start a thread.

Ten reasons to live in Texas?
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Uuuum, it's really big. OK, you think up the next one ;)

MB
 
Nords said:
Having lived over most of America and a few foreign countries, I'd have to say that the most foreign and incomprehensible of them all was New York. My latest data point is Manhattan but I'd hate to hold that against the rest of the state.

After nearly 20 years in Hawaii, when I get a New Yorker on the phone we don't get anything accomplished unless they talk at half-speed... or send me an e-mail.


Georgia was colonized under the same selection system as Australia's Botany Bay, but I don't think that's what you're implying.

Did you have my college history prof who referred to it as "the War of Northern Aggression"?

And Walt, you don't even want to know the etymology of the phrase "to shoot a Yankee"...
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I grew up in Upstate NY (near Albany), went to college in Potsdam NY (had trouble understanding folks from Bronx/Brooklyn/Long Island). While working for USAF had great trouble talking with folks from South Georgia (Macon). Between the drawl and the hideous grammar, I sometimes needed a translator.

Yes I know that speaking in complete sentences means I am an 'elitist'.
 
Ten Reasons to Live in Texas

mb said:
Uuuum, it's really big. OK, you think up the next one ;) MB
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* If you want to home-school your kid (or your kid wants to self-school) the State can't can come knock on your door to inspect your curriculum, attendance records, grades or any of that nonsense. Texas State colleges are not allowed to discriminate based on not having a diploma from a State "certified" high school.

* No State Income Tax (higher property taxes though, but the legislature is supposed to be trying to do something about that)

* Lake Fork

* DFW Airport

* Ron Paul
 
They say that you learn something new every day. Whew, I made it just under the wire....It's almost 11pm and I just Googled "chigger". Hope I never need to use my new found knowledge.
 
Bob Wills, George Jones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Earl Keen, Delbert McClinton, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Billy Gibbons, Stephen Stills...

And really good Mexican food!
 
Nords said:
Having lived over most of America and a few foreign countries, I'd have to say that the most foreign and incomprehensible of them all was New York. My latest data point is Manhattan but I'd hate to hold that against the rest of the state.

After nearly 20 years in Hawaii, when I get a New Yorker on the phone we don't get anything accomplished unless they talk at half-speed... or send me an e-mail."
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I've lived in New York City and it's environs for most of my life. When I speak to some of my southern friends on the phone the word I use most often is "what". I have had no problem being understood when I speak.

In my days of traveling overseas whenever we didn't want to be understood by the people we were dealing with we just spoke very quickly and it was incomprehensible to them.
 
Im not sure what you would call it. Dialect maybe? But creole or cajun is really difficult for me to understand. That and for whatever reason British folks. Im hard of hearing so thats probably why.

Texans I understand perfectly fine ;)
 
Nords said:
Georgia was colonized under the same selection system as Australia's Botany Bay, but I don't think that's what you're implying.
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Grew up in Georgia so I'm totally familiar with Governor Ogelthorpe's colony. It was intended to be a place where debtors, being held in English prisons, could get a new start in the new world and serve as a military buffer to protect South Carolina. I don't think the penal colony ever got off the ground, if I recall correctly.
Nords said:
Did you have my college history prof who referred to it as "the War of Northern Aggression"?
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The phrasing is not unusual among historians educated in the South. Dr. Henry Curry, graduate of U of Virginia, Duke and Emory, all good Southern schools. He was a native Virginian, a Chaplain in the Army Reserves and when I first saw Shelby Foote (a Mississippian) speak I was instantly reminded of Curry.
Nords said:
And Walt, you don't even want to know the etymology of the phrase "to shoot a Yankee"...
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"I feel that I would like to shoot a Yankee, and yet I know that this would not be in harmony with the spirit of Christianity."
 
Notmuchlonger said:
Im not sure what you would call it. Dialect maybe? But creole or cajun is really difficult for me to understand.
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Cajun French is not like Parisian French. I'm pretty strong in the latter from school and travels. But Cajun French is similar to Pidgin English, which I spoke back in Hawaii. In both, words from several different languages are thrown in, and grammar and pronunciation are not standard (to put it mildly). They should call Cajun French, Pidgin French, in that sense. I can't speak Cajun French though I can understand about 2/3rds of it so I get along fine down in Acadiana.

True Creole French sounds more like Parisian French to me. But it's not the same, either, I suppose due to the Spanish influence. Then there are those of partly Haitian descent, whose French has its own distinct color.

Some native New Orleanians have a peculiar accent that is not found elsewhere in Louisiana. They are called "Yats", because of the occasional greeting, "Where y'at?" (An answer might be, "Howz yo mama an d'em?" Anyway, they have what is called a Yat accent. Frank has a Yat accent, though due to a fine education and a cultured upbringing he can also shift easily to standard English. To me, a Yat accent sounds like a Brooklyn or NJ accent but with a little very subtle French color to the pronunciation, and at a slower pace.

In New Orleans, you don't go to the grocery store... you "make groceries". That's probably just the result of a literal translation. The sidewalk is a banquette. There's a lot more that you are dealing with that isn't actually English.

So, don't feel bad about not understanding! It's not your hearing - - it's the language.

And Leonidas - - you rock!! (referring to post #17). That's what it is known as down here, too - - the War of Northern Aggression. In some respects, one could say that shadows of Reconstruction linger even today.
 
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Want2retire said:
Some native New Orleanians have a peculiar accent that is not found elsewhere in Louisiana. They are called "Yats", because of the occasional greeting, "Where y'at?" (An answer might be, "Howz yo mama an d'em?" Anyway, they have what is called a Yat accent. Frank has a Yat accent, though due to education he can also speak standard English. To me, a Yat accent sounds like a Brooklyn or NJ accent but with a little very subtle French color to the pronunciation, and at a slower pace.
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I think they call that the Irish Channel accent. It's sometimes easy to mistake someone speaking Irish Channel for somebody from NYC because the differences can be so subtle. The similarities come from the 1800's when migration to New Orleans was very similar to what was going on in NYC (Irish & Italian).
Want2retire said:
And Leonidas - - you rock!! That's what it is known as down here, too - - the War of Northern Aggression. In some respects, one could say that shadows of Reconstruction linger even today.
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You are too kind! That was a sweet lagniappe to brighten my day.:cool:
 
W2R

I think you described the NOLA accent pretty accurately. I grew up in the Gentilly area and later moved to Metairie or Metry as the locals pronounce it. The locals described moving to Metairie as moving to the parish as in Jefferson Parish. The yat accent seemed to be stronger in the St. Bernard- Chalmette area and the Irish Channel uptown area of NO.

What other city can you grow up in and go to CYF on Sunday evening at your church and then go cruise down Bourbon St. This was back when you could still drive down Bourbon. We thought it was normal to being going into bars and nightclubs at 15. The rule was if you were tall enough to get your money over the bar then they would serve you.

Gotta go. Laissez les bon temps roulez

2soon
 
I've lived in Austin, Texas, since 1985 and other Texas places in previous years, and I've never even heard of "love bugs"! Where in Texas do they live? If it's the Houston area -- well, I've never wanted to live in Houston.

Also, honestly, I've never heard of one ebola outbreak in Texas.

Regarding the alleged mandatory death penalty for DUI -- well, it's not enforced.

Now, as to why so many people live in Texas: (1) there's a lot of room here, (2) at least in the central and southern parts of the state, the winters aren't bad, (3) no state income tax, (4) [may be obsolete now] it's across a shallow river from Mexico and jobs are [used to be?] easier to find here than in Mexico, (5) it's a "right to work" state (no requirement to join labor unions). No doubt other Texans would list numerous other reasons. (E.g., UT Austin people would say "UT Austin". Aggies would say, "Texas A&M", Travis County Democrats would claim, "The most liberal county in the USA", etc. Music lovers would say "Austin -- the live music capital of the world.) Nevertheless, I think I'd rather live in Hawaii (the Big Island), if only I could afford it.

Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA - not a gun owner
 
Isnt Texas one of the highest places for retirement? Thought I read something about that a few months ago.. >:D

Florida is passing the buck!
 
REWahoo said:
Ed, you keep blowing smoke up everybody's skirt about how "wonderful" this place is and we'll soon have more imports than a BMW dealership. Put a lid on it!
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Wahoo, do you mean Hawaii? Texas is hot, parched and/or humid, flash flood alley, tornado alley, hurricane alley, hailstorm alley (We just had a terrific hailstorm in Austin -- millions of dollars worth of damage all over town.), etc. It's also allergy alley -- with a terrible allergy season in the winter (ashe juniper, a.k.a. "mountain cedar")! Traffic in Austin is miserable. I try to drive only at night, but before 2:00 AM -- when the bars close. Texans are mean, brawling, gun-toting, skanky drunks -- and the men are pretty bad too.

Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA - "King of the Hill" fan - born on Federal territory in a state east of Texas
 
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