# Texans, what's wrong with Texas? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276 "2007-08-11T19:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/61 "2007-08-14T19:21:27Z")
[QUOTE=stanger] If I was out of state, I might volunteer that I was from Texas, but it wouldn’t occur to me to make a big deal out of it, and I doubt anyone I know would either. [/QUOTE] Sounds like you and your friends’ hat-to-cattle balance are in good Qi, as probably whatever are the other three elements that comprise Texan Feng Shui. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/62 "2007-08-14T19:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] Texas is a large & complex state. So, please come for a visit. Helpful hint: Don’t come in [August](http://www.wunderground.com/US/TX/)! [/QUOTE] Seconded. Don’t come here now…it’s been hovering around 100 degrees and 80 percent humidity for a week. Come in the fall and I’ll buy you a beer. Hell, maybe you’ll even be the catalyst for a long-overdue Houston DopeFest. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/63 "2007-08-14T19:30:48Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Heh, bigotry and a big ol’ “WHOOOOOSH” embrace yet again. [PHIL: “Texas is really ugly, you know that? I mean, what could anyone possibly like about this state?” DORMAN: “I like the way it’s shaped.”](http://www.howboutafandango.com/fans/quotes.htm) [del]Life[/del] **Cardinal** imitates art. [/QUOTE] I completely maintain that I have not been whooshed. This person was very intent on defending Texas on every level. That movie quote is imitating life. “i have a comment about texas-shaped anything. i’m sorry if it bothers you, but texas really is the only state with such an interesting shape. a square is not that interesting. california has an alright shape, and florida too, but texas looks as if the borders were almost designed to be pretty. and if you can show me a prettily shaped state that doesn’t sell products shaped like the state, then i’ll show you a state that’s missing out on some money.” From here: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=97892&page=2&pp=50](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=97892&page=2&pp=50) Seriously, there are people in the Pit who have black souls. I wish I were kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/64 "2007-08-14T19:48:12Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I submit to you that Texas is the Harvard of states. I say this because I am a Harvard grad, and the response is virtually the same: “Oh, you went to Harvard? I’ve decided that you are a jackass/snob/genius based on that fact.” Same with being from Texas. I can’t tell you how many tell you how many times someone has met me and within five minutes has decided that I’m a Bush fan, believe in capital punishment, or that I have a cowboy hat and boots. Texas has a mythology about it that we all embrace and reject it at the same time. [/QUOTE] I remember a headline from the Onion: “Harvard-educated Texan Unsure About Which To Mention First.” ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/65 "2007-08-14T21:19:58Z")
Granted, I’ve only been to Austin, but I like the state a lot. It’s got a certain moxie to it you don’t see in other places. I’m friends with two Texans, and neither of them make a huge deal of it, nor do either of them live there anymore. But since it’s the only state that was once its own country, I’m not surprised they might be a little more proud than other places. That said, I have no intention of visiting Houston anytime soon. I hear it’s miserable. But I maintain that my home state of Michigan has a much better shape. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/66 "2007-08-14T21:31:54Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] [QUOTE=Clothahump] Seriously, there is nothing wrong with Texas. [/QUOTE] This is the attitude I don’t get! There is something wrong with _every state in the Union_. [/QUOTE] I could be wrong, but I actually think you two are just saying the same thing in different ways. I’m sure if I asked Clothy if Texas had problems, he’d say something like, sure Texas has problems, just like any other state. You know, crime, infrastructure problems, whatever. But that doesn’t mean there is something fundamentally wrong with the state. I also live in Texas. Sure Texas has problems. But for the most part, I don’t think those problems are fundamentally different from the issues that face every other state in the US. The #1 problem right _now_ is the fact that it’s too fucking hot. God damn it, it’s hot. A high of 104 yesterday, and it’s showing 103 right now. That’s about 40C. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/67 "2007-08-14T21:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=SNenc] But I maintain that my home state of Michigan has a much better shape. 😉 [/QUOTE] The ol’ “mitten and fragment” silhouette. 😛 Honestly, I really like Texas. I wasn’t born here, and I stay here by choice. Sure, there are things I find comical about my adoptive state, and other things that I find genuinely negative about it, but in general, Texas (Houston at least) has defied my expectations and become a good home for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/68 "2007-08-14T22:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=SNenc] But since [Texas is] the only state that was once its own country, I’m not surprised they might be a little more proud than other places. [/quote] Vermont, California, and Hawaii might have a bone to pick with you. [QUOTE=Cardinal] “…and if you can show me a prettily shaped state that doesn’t sell products shaped like the state, then i’ll show you a state that’s missing out on some money.” [/quote] But I see Wyoming-shaped things for sale all the time. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/69 "2007-08-14T23:26:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ponder Stibbons] The #1 problem right _now_ is the fact that it’s too fucking hot. God damn it, it’s hot. A high of 104 yesterday, and it’s showing 103 right now. That’s about 40C. Fuck. [/QUOTE] Ha! Sounds like a chilly day to me. (Still like it better here than in Texas, though. 😃 ) ---
**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:** [August 14, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/70 "2007-08-14T23:27:51Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] Vermont, California, and Hawaii might have a bone to pick with you. [/QUOTE] Indeed. And Hawaii was even a kingdom, to boot. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/71 "2007-08-15T01:05:02Z")
[Speaking of Texas…](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070814/ap_on_re_us/tasered_dad) ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/72 "2007-08-15T08:05:02Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] You do not kill people to protect your pickup truck. [/QUOTE] Hmmm, are we talkin’ a standard mid-size or a full quadcab? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/73 "2007-08-15T12:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] [Speaking of Texas…](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070814/ap_on_re_us/tasered_dad) [/QUOTE] What’s your point? That Texans routinely go around nabbing their newborns? Or that the security guards in Texas routinely go around tasing people holding children? Somehow all of Texas and each Texan individually should be judged by and held accountable for the misguided actions of a couple of people? Whatever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/74 "2007-08-15T12:47:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mesquite-oh] Hmmm, are we talkin’ a standard mid-size or a full quadcab? [/QUOTE] _Mid-size_? What are you, a girl? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/75 "2007-08-15T13:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Seconded. Don’t come here now…it’s been hovering around 100 degrees and 80 percent humidity for a week. Come in the fall and I’ll buy you a beer. Hell, maybe you’ll even be the catalyst for a long-overdue Houston DopeFest. [/QUOTE] The thunder & lightning early this AM signalled a change in the weather. [Something’s](http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/satelliteworld/gulfofmexicosatellite_large.html) headed in from the Gulf. No problem this far inland. Unless you live in one of the areas that tend to flood. At least it will break the heat wave. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/76 "2007-08-15T13:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] The thunder & lightning early this AM signalled a change in the weather. [Something’s](http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/satelliteworld/gulfofmexicosatellite_large.html) headed in from the Gulf. No problem this far inland. Unless you live in one of the areas that tend to flood. At least it will break the heat wave. [/QUOTE] And that, pardners, is what we call “lookin’ on the bright side.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/77 "2007-08-15T13:20:47Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] And that, pardners, is what we call “lookin’ on the bright side.” 😃 [/QUOTE] Ya’ll down in Houston better not hog all the rain. We need some up this way. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/78 "2007-08-15T13:57:44Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I submit to you that Texas is the Harvard of states. Do I mean it’s the best-educated or most elite? No. What I mean is that once you volunteer or it is learned you are from Texas, nobody is agnostic about it. Everyone has an opinion - good or bad - about where you’re from, usually based on a stereotype or some experience the observer has had with some individuals from there. I say this because I am a Harvard grad, and the response is virtually the same: “Oh, you went to Harvard? I’ve decided that you are a jackass/snob/genius based on that fact.” Same with being from Texas. I can’t tell you how many tell you how many times someone has met me and within five minutes has decided that I’m a Bush fan, believe in capital punishment, or that I have a cowboy hat and boots. Texas has a mythology about it that we all embrace and reject it at the same time. [/QUOTE] The corollary to this is that many (but by no means all) Harvard grads & Texans manage to volunteer their status within the first 2 minutes of meeting them, regardless of whether it’s been asked or if it’s relevant to the conversation. Also, many Harvard grads & Texans consider that to be the defining fact of their lives. I’ve seen resumes from 40+ year old jobseekers who put their 20 year old Harvard degree at the _top_ of their resume. No other university or state engenders such feelings in its graduates/residents. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/79 "2007-08-15T18:37:33Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] The corollary to this is that many (but by no means all) Harvard grads & Texans manage to volunteer their status within the first 2 minutes of meeting them, regardless of whether it’s been asked or if it’s relevant to the conversation. Also, many Harvard grads & Texans consider that to be the defining fact of their lives. I’ve seen resumes from 40+ year old jobseekers who put their 20 year old Harvard degree at the _top_ of their resume. No other university or state engenders such feelings in its graduates/residents. [/QUOTE] Sure, but you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I usually just come straight out and share my state identity or my collegiate affiliation when I’m asked or it’s relevant. Some of my peers have this annoying habit of “…well, I went to school in Boston…” instead of saying it straight out. My experience with Harvard folks is that it’s typically hard to get it out of them compared to most other people. Texans, again, depending on where you live, may give signals that they are from there, but what do people almost always talk about in the first few minutes of meeting? Weather and where you’re from. Texas figures prominently in such a conversation. There’s nothing wrong with announcing that you’re a Ball State grad, or you’re from Minnesota. And those aspects of identity may well be defining moments of peoples’ lives. I think if people would take the approach of being open-minded about where folks are from (statewise and schoolwise) it wouldn’t be an issue as much. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276/80 "2007-08-15T18:52:56Z")
[QUOTE=Turek] What’s your point? That Texans routinely go around nabbing their newborns? Or that the security guards in Texas routinely go around tasing people holding children? Somehow all of Texas and each Texan individually should be judged by and held accountable for the misguided actions of a couple of people? Whatever. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I’m just saying that this happened in Texas. Draw your own conclusions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texans-whats-wrong-with-texas/415276.md?page=5)