# Questions for my fellow Texans **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978 "2013-01-12T18:00:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/1 "2013-01-12T18:00:37Z")
I’ve been out of Texas for around 15 years, but for some reason I was missing it something fierce yesterday. Tell me, my fellow Texans, do drinks still tump over in my home state? And if they do, are you fixing to go clean them up? Thank you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/2 "2013-01-12T23:09:06Z")
The only things that tump over in my parlance are boats, but I’m not a native. (I’m from Louisiana, where boats figure more prominently in general discourse and warrant more jargon.) I can’t say that I’ve heard anyone else apply “tump” to a drink, either, though. I suppose some folks might do so outside of the citified areas. “Fixing to” is still pretty common in both states, though I don’t use it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/3 "2013-01-12T23:25:17Z")
Also not a native, but in 2+ years, I’m afraid I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing of anything getting tumped over. Fixin to, however is as common as dirt all the way back to the east coast. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/4 "2013-01-12T23:36:03Z")
I’ve tumped my share of glasses over in my time. I never even knew that wasn’t a real word until about a year or two ago, when my brother said somebody from out of state was explaining to him too, that it wasn’t. But I still use it; otherwise, my fellow Texans wouldn’t understand what da hell I was saying. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/5 "2013-01-12T23:46:57Z")
I did find an on-line dictionary that recognizes it, and says it can be used as a clump of vegetation. Or: > [@](#): > > chiefly Southern > : to tip or turn over especially accidentally —usually used with over \ > **[Definition of TUMP](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tump)** > > mound, hummock; a clump of vegetation… See the full definition So maybe some of us southerners recognize it as a real word in the sense we use it after all. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/6 "2013-01-13T01:13:14Z")
Never heard of that word and lived in TX all my life. Have used “fixing to” and always heard it used. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/7 "2013-01-13T02:07:49Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Never heard of that word and lived in TX all my life. Have used “fixing to” and always heard it used. From the big city, are ya there, Skypist? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/8 "2013-01-13T02:31:13Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Never heard of that word and lived in TX all my life. Have used “fixing to” and always heard it used. Me too. And I just asked a few of my Texan coworkers and they don’t know either. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/9 "2013-01-13T03:20:13Z")
I spent 24 years in Texas and never heard about anything “tumping” that I can recall. “Fixin’ to” do this or that, all the time. (I’ve been out of Texas much longer than the OP and have never, _ever_ missed it. In fact, when flying past it, I normally moon it from the airplane, doubly embarrassing if I have the aisle seat.) ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/10 "2013-01-13T03:29:04Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > From the big city, are ya there, Skypist? 🙂 Maybe it’s regional. I’ve always lived in various towns in south and central Texas. Have not spent any time to speak of in the Panhandle or west or east Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/11 "2013-01-13T03:32:36Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Never heard of that word and lived in TX all my life. Have used “fixing to” and always heard it used. > [@Skypist](#): > > Maybe it’s regional. I’ve always lived in various towns in south and central Texas. Have not spent any time to speak of in the Panhandle or west or east Texas. I grew up in West Texas, on the South Plains just below the Panhandle, and your experience is mine. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/12 "2013-01-13T03:41:14Z")
I’m in North TX, two hours northwest of D/FW, in the Wichita Falls area. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/13 "2013-01-13T05:26:03Z")
Hmmm, less tumpage than I expected, but still some “fixing to” in place. Good to know. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > (I’ve been out of Texas much longer than the OP and have never, _ever_ missed it. I rarely do either, but I almost used the phrase “fetch up” the other day, and for some reason that made me miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/14 "2013-01-13T06:02:07Z")
I am not technically from Texas (I grew up practically straddling the Louisiana/Texas border) but my mother is from Fort Worth as is much of her side of the family. I not only know all about tumping, I never gave the term up even after I moved to New England. It is a great word that has no exact English synonym. You can say tip, topple, dump or flip but none of them mean the exact same thing as ‘tump’. Its usage is not only still current, it is spreading slowly geographically thanks to some grass-roots effort by yours truly. I taught it to my Yankee ex-wife and her family also picked it up. My New England daughters use it all the time as well. I nominate it as Southerism that should be adopted by all English speakers around the globe. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/15 "2013-01-13T06:31:50Z")
My dad was from Oklahoma and I know (and occasionally use) the word ‘tump.’ Grandpa worked in the oilfields starting during the thirties; so a regional, occupational, or generational connection? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/16 "2013-01-13T07:12:44Z")
I was born in Texas in 1940 and lived there until shortly after JFKs assassination and I don’t recall ever hearing anyone say tump for any reason. Fixin to was common although I broke myself of the habit of using it. I don’t think I would ever return to Texas although I have been momentarily tempted to. Sanity prevailed in those cases. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/17 "2013-01-13T15:07:23Z")
I lived in SE Texas, including Houston and small towns, for 15 of the first 20 years of my life. (Yes, I was born a swamp baby!) Early 60s thru mid 80s. I’m in rural SE NM now. Fixin t’ do something is still part of my daily vocabulary. No one seems to notice. Until this thread, I had forgotten about tump over. I remember as a little kid, some of my parents friends used words and phrases that seemed like a foreign language to me. Tump over was easily understandable, but sounded funny. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/18 "2013-01-13T15:48:01Z")
Hell I tumped over a drink last night. Used the word all my life, in Houston where I was born, lived in West Texas, DFW, Lafayette LA. **Siam Sam** can I ask, where in West Texas did you live? I was in Big Spring or as I like to call it Prison, yes it sucked that bad. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/19 "2013-01-13T15:48:55Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > **Siam Sam** can I ask, where in West Texas did you live? I was in Big Spring or as I like to call it Prison, yes it sucked that bad. > > **Capt** I was somewhere between you and Amarillo. But a bit below the Panhandle. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-for-my-fellow-texans/646978/20 "2013-01-13T16:05:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I was somewhere between you and Amarillo. But a bit below the Panhandle. Nice to have escaped, those places can be traps. My drivers ed class took us up on the Interstate but my teacher told us “We have to teach you this but don’t worry you won’t need to use it”. I left two months later. **Capt**