# is Stephan King lazy, altzheimery or just fucking with us?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 11, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547 "2012-02-11T20:27:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/61 "2012-03-17T16:54:54Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> I could be wrong but I think “don’t mess with Texas” is as old as Texas itself. Heck, ISTR it was on one the state flags at one time.
It was created by [Tim McClure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Mess_with_Texas) in 1985 for the Texas Department of Transportation. It just sounds like the kind of posturing that comes naturally to Texans.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/62 "2012-03-17T17:05:23Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> It was created by [Tim McClure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Mess_with_Texas) in 1985 for the Texas Department of Transportation. It just sounds like the kind of posturing that comes naturally to Texans.
It may have become extremely popular for an anti-litering campaign around that time. They took an OLD phrase and revamped it for something new.
I am pretty darn sure I first heard about it in school in various history classes…BEFORE 1985. I think this is a case of if it aint in the mass media pop culture or the internet it never existed. Though, I think I might be thinking of “don’t tread on me” now that I think of it.
PS,. This whole anti-littering thing aint working. Unless by working you mean it could be way worse.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/63 "2012-03-17T17:19:32Z")
Since we’ve got McClure’s own testimony and the data seems to support it, my guess is that you’re just misremembering.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/64 "2012-03-17T17:30:19Z")
Could well be I misremembered as I mentioned. This whole “mess with texas” thing as it applies to one of Kings stories. Whats the context? Did someone just say it to someone else? Because I sure as heck can imagine that being said sometime somewhere well before 1985.
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### Author:  [@newme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newme)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/65 "2012-03-17T17:44:56Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> I could be wrong but I think “don’t mess with Texas” is as old as Texas itself. Heck, ISTR it was on one the state flags at one time.
Could it be you are remembering the **[Come and Take It flag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_take_it#Texas_Revolution)** from Gonzales during the Texas Revolution?
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/66 "2012-03-18T00:14:42Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Could well be I misremembered as I mentioned. This whole “mess with texas” thing as it applies to one of Kings stories. Whats the context? Did someone just say it to someone else? Because I sure as heck can imagine that being said sometime somewhere well before 1985.
No, I wouldn’t have brought it up if it had been something in passing - instead, it appears emblazoned on souvenirs on Greenville Avenue. Not that it’s a big deal either way, but off details can be a little jarring.
I’m halfway through the book, and enjoying the heck out of it.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/67 "2012-03-18T00:20:08Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> No, I wouldn’t have brought it up if it had been something in passing - instead, it appears emblazoned on souvenirs on Greenville Avenue. Not that it’s a big deal either way, but off details can be a little jarring.
>
> I’m halfway through the book, and enjoying the heck out of it.
Glad you are enjoying it. Just remember there is a 90 percent chance King will screw you on the ending 🙂
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/68 "2012-03-18T00:38:10Z")
I have to say that I was so engrossed in the book that, like **Quasi** , I didn’t notice any of the stuff mentioned in this thread.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/69 "2012-03-18T00:49:35Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Glad you are enjoying it. Just remember there is a 90 percent chance King will screw you on the ending 🙂
I know, I’ve been telling myself that. But I quit The Dome about halfway through, so I’m telling myself that even with a lame ending this still has to be an improvement over that.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/70 "2012-03-18T18:24:04Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> Whenever you see something like that, a wizard did it, OK? Or Randall Flagg…
Or Superboy Prime punched the thing he’s trapped in.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/71 "2012-03-18T22:55:45Z")
I just finished the book, and have to say I’m pretty happy with the ending, all possibilities considered.
Two more unimportant (but jarring) errors: it’s Mercedes _Avenue_ and Camp Bowie _Boulevard_ – neither is a “Street”, at least inside the confines of old Fort Worth.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/72 "2012-03-19T05:14:20Z")
I looked at this thread earlier, then left again, but just now it occurred to me to say:
It’s Stephen King. Stories that don’t actually make sense are his stock in trade. He’s the poster child for FridgeLogic and TheyJustDidn’tCare.
Nope, not linking to tvtropes.
Really. A “corn god”? A man-eating satyr\* who works as a lawnmower?\* The man’s success as a horror writer is based in the frisson his readers get when the world of his story is _not making sense._ The man probably just hacks out whatever pays the bills, and he’s written a lot of horror & fantasy because he doesn’t have _to waste time on research._
So on reflection, not that surprising after all.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/73 "2012-03-19T10:58:28Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> It makes me wonder though, since wikipedia and other online sources of information have become popular do novels have fewer of these mistakes?
Not IME, at least in things I’m used to noticing such as the use of words from a different language, or descriptions of places where I’ve been and the writer has not. It’s become more prevalent in a world in which international travel is more and more common, but apparently the writers can’t do the research.
Sandokan or the Three Musketeers weren’t factual, but they weren’t trying to be; they were adventure novels and often the most surprising bits of background information turn out to have been true. Now there seem to be a lot of writers who’ll write things about as factual as those but who make a fuss about how hard they work at researching stuff…
_shakes her granny’s walking stick and a pile of dictionaries at the whippersnappers in her lawn_
ETA: I remembered a novel I didn’t buy because they’d set Dublin in Cork County. Figured you’d like that one. Actually, from what I gathered flipping a bit through it, it wasn’t so much that they’d moved Dublin down as Cork up… an amazing feat anyway.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/74 "2012-03-19T12:20:45Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> Really. A “corn god”? A man-eating satyr\* who works as a lawnmower?\* The man’s success as a horror writer is based in the frisson his readers get when the world of his story is _not making sense._ The man probably just hacks out whatever pays the bills, and he’s written a lot of horror & fantasy because he doesn’t have _to waste time on research._
My next book is about… a… a lamp monster!
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### Author:  [@dwk4377](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwk4377)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/75 "2015-11-03T02:24:54Z")
Just ran across this thread. One thing I noted in _11/22/63_ was the Chevron station. Chevron, while a product name for lubricants and related items, wasn’t renamed from Standard Oil until the late 1970s. I can’t find a specific reference to the first use as a gas station name but I think King places it a couple of decades early.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/76 "2015-11-03T03:05:37Z")
I know this is a zombie, but I just have to say:
1. Calling Stephen King lazy is unthinkable. It’s not my kind of stuff, but the guy is amazingly prolific.
2. These are fantasy/horror stories. Historical accuracy for minutiae like this just might be beside the point.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/77 "2015-11-03T03:20:03Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> I know this is a zombie, but I just have to say:
>
> 1. Calling Stephen King lazy is unthinkable. It’s not my kind of stuff, but the guy is amazingly prolific.
>
> 2. These are fantasy/horror stories. Historical accuracy for minutiae like this just might be beside the point.
1. Those are two very different senses of the word.
2. That’s an enormous insult to all the fantasy/horror writers of the world
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/78 "2015-11-03T03:26:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> 1. These are fantasy/horror stories. Historical accuracy for minutiae like this just might be beside the point.
The particular story in question is a _time-travel story_ (and in many ways, a good one). Historical accuracy, even in minutiae, is not beside the point.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/79 "2015-11-03T03:27:14Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> 1. That’s an enormous insult to all the fantasy/horror writers of the world
I don’t think it is. Historical accuracy is not necessarily required not desired for many types of fiction. In fact, an excessive fixation on details like this reflects a failure on the part of the reader to surrender to the author’s vision. This is simply the creation of an imaginary world in which trivial facts such as many posted in this thread are likely irrelevant; it’s just a different place and time, one that’s different from the factual one.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephan-king-lazy-altzheimery-or-just-fucking-with-us/612547/80 "2015-11-03T03:41:08Z")
I noticed some inconsistencies in the book, but what was worse for me was all the Britishisms thrown in. My copy was published in London, and the Brits had obviously been doing some tinkering. Having grown up in Texas myself, I can verify no self-respecting Texan has _ever_ called cigarettes “fags” and especially not in the early 1960s. No Texan or any other American would use “snog” for “kiss.” Etc.
But I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was easily able to overlook all the discrepancies. The last of King’s I read was _Dolores Claiborne_, in 1994 and which I found so dull that I didn’t bother picking up another King until this one. And I liked this one so much that I’ve gone on to read others.
EDIT: Heh, a zombie thread regarding Stephen King. How appropriate. 😃
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