I hate when people call Austin ATX

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Well, JayBrown80, I guess you'd have to take that MoPac thing up with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad (after which Mopac is named because the railroad was there first) itself. The name Mopac (and its pronunciation) WAY predates the roadway.

Well, not really THL, I don't need to take up anything with the railroad at all (especially since it doesn't exist anymore), because I am one of the live and let live people who don't insult people for not pronouncing things my way. I think MOPAC is A-ok, but wanted to check with the natives before I made a fool of myself.

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Well, JayBrown80, I guess you'd have to take that MoPac thing up with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad (after which Mopac is named because the railroad was there first) itself. The name Mopac (and its pronunciation) WAY predates the roadway.

???

I know.

That's what I wrote in my post.

This is what you wrote in yours.

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

But if it's REALLY supposed to represent South Congress, the pronunciation currently used is all wrong.

...which you wrote in response to people using the phrase SoCo for south congress. I was just confused why people who came here from another state and call South Congress "SoCo" is irritating to you. BUT, people who come here from another state and call The Missouri Pacific "mopac" is not irritating to you (which is what they did when they ran their train thru our town). Especially given your response to the poster who said "In New York NoHo means north of houston and tribeca is triangle below the canal."

Now while Mopac is easier to write on the side of a train then Missouri Pacific, it doesn't change the fact that it is an acceptable abbreviation. And abbreviated and "mispronounced" almost the exact same way as SoCo. Yet others have said that "no one from around here talks like that" along with many other derogatory things and aspersions to people who do talk like that.

So if someone moved to Austin from California, and opened a clothing store on South Congress, would they be allowed to call it the SoCo Boutique? It is their buisness after all. Or would that not be fitting in with the spirit of Austin?

Originally Posted by joejitsu

dumb.

or

Originally Posted by joejitsu

ghetto.

or

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

pretentious

or ad infinitum, ad infinitum.

Once again, so my message isn't lost. I have no problem with all the TexasHorseladies in the world choosing not to use the term ATX because they feel it's stupid. I have no problem with all the Austin-Steve's in the world automatically thinking you have a "low IQ" for using ATX. That is their right.

I do have a problem with putting someone down and calling them dumb, stupid and pretentious just for the way they speak. As I said before, don't we as southerners get that enough.

Why do I have a problem with that? Because your thought has then turned to action. Thoughts are yours. Actions are done to people.

The only time I had a problem with this thread is when it turned from "I wouldn't say that, it sounds silly...." to "If you say that, you are not from around here, and you don't know the right way to talk, and you have to accept by definition as the correct one." (paraphrasing both).

Why do I have a problem with that. Because the first is YOU controlling YOUR behavior (I dont' want to talk like that). The second is YOU controlling MY behavior (and you can't talk like that either).

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by OneJackson

Now see here in your comments. you are CLEARLY torn on keeping Austin "down homey" like you really like it vs. taking Austin into the future which you like but with moderation.

personally, I don't want the rail system because it's more hassle and cons than pros to me. if they wanted to put a train in Austin they should've done it from day one like Chicago or New yOrk. not wait until you got your city planned out, then dump a train on top of it. more proof that Austin doesn't need that. ...not to mention criminals hitching rides to areas they wouldn't else go to.

I think that it's entirely possible for Austin to go into the future (not "be taken" - that's the part I object to, really) and maintain its "down home" vibe. But, as you say, it must be done with moderation, and occur naturally, not dragged there by people from elsewhere (whether they've moved here or just want to influence here or are from here but think that being just like someplace else must just be SO much better) who think they know what's best for those of us who've been here a while specifically BECAUSE of the way the city already is.

Like I said, the city councils (and I'd have to go back and look to see who was on them when) kept pushing and pushing and pushing because someone else kept being very loud about how we just had to have light rail, in the face of the voters' very loud and very clear, "NO"! Those who thought that the only way for Austin to be taken into the future was to emulate other places kept pushing, and, obviously, nagging does work, eventually, if only in the doomed hope that the nagger will just HUSH UP! (Never happens - they get one thing, and then they want to change something else, it's never ending.)