Why in the world aren't there any big cities in Western Texas? (Houston: live in, airports)

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

I spent the majority of my life in Texas and never heard any part referred to with the suffix -ern. Texas isn't an -ern state. You say West, North, South, or East Texas. You can say Southwest (like the school I went to that is now Texas State), or Southeast (the Houston/Beaumont areas) or whatever.

Incorrect.

[JJG]

Can we please not start this again...?

[BillyH]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

I spent the majority of my life in Texas and never heard any part referred to with the suffix -ern. Texas isn't an -ern state. You say West, North, South, or East Texas. You can say Southwest (like the school I went to that is now Texas State), or Southeast (the Houston/Beaumont areas) or whatever.

It's like California, we put -ern on it. Southern California "SoCal" or Northern California. No one would say South or North. You can say Upstate New York, but where would Upstate Texas be?

Agree no downstate either as in downstate Illinois.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by TughillTina

New Yorker here and am happy there aren't any big cities in West Texas, it is one of the areas on our radar screen for later in life. I'm even a fan of the panhandle area. Love it !!

Reps for you! Come on out when you can!

[Bobloblawslawblog]

Originally Posted by BillyH

I have lived in Texas most of my life and have always heard Amarillo and Lubbock are in West Texas. It has never made sense to me, Dallas is south (and east of course) of Lubbock but is considered North Texas and Lubbock West Texas. Yes both Amarillo and Lubbock are also part of the panhandle. There are several references to Lubbock being in West Texas "The West Texas Walk of Fame" is in Lubbock. A friend of mine attended Tech and has lived there ever since, I asked her about this and she said yes the natives consider it West Texas. West Texas to me is Odessa, Midland and El Paso.

Yeah, that has always baffled me as well. I've always thought of the panhandle as a completely separate part of Texas than 'true-West' Texas (El Paso, Midland-Odessa, Alpine, Marfa), and definitely more deserving of being called "North Texas" than DFW. And though it's more an exception than a rule, I have also occasionally heard people refer to Houston as being in "South Texas", which also doesn't make much sense. The only cities I would consider to be in South Texas are Corpus Christi, Laredo, The RGV, and San Antonio at the northernmost edge of South TX, bleeding into central TX.

[Trae713]

Houston as South Texas? That would be a first for me. Have heard Southeast Texas for the Houston area plenty of times, but never South Texas. That just sounds weird. San Antonio is definitely the furthest north South Texas gets. Me personally, I've usually included SA with Central Texas.

[Gunion Powder]

That's because when they say "South Texas" they really mean southern Texas.

See the type of confusion that ensues when people can't make distinctions between pronouns and adjectives?

[gabetx]

The Panhandle: Amarillo, Lubbock
West TX: El Paso, Midland/Odessa, Fort Stockton, Marfa.
Central TX: Austin, Killeen/Temple, Waco, San Marcos, New Braunsfels
South TX: San Antonio, Laredo, Corpus Christi, Victoria, Kingsville.
East TX: Houston, College Station, Beaumont, Huntsville, Lufkin
North TX: DFW, Witchita Falls, Longview, Tyler
RGV: I consider it its own region with Raymondville, Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen, Edinburg, Rio Grande City, Zapata.

Floaters: Del Rio which can be Central or West TX. Abilene, which can be West or North TX, maybe even almost Panhandle. San Angelo, which can be West TX, or Central. Falfurrias, which can be South TX or RGV. Nacododges can either be East or North TX.

There's my two cents on things.

[Bobloblawslawblog]

Originally Posted by Trae713

Houston as South Texas? That would be a first for me. Have heard Southeast Texas for the Houston area plenty of times, but never South Texas. That just sounds weird. San Antonio is definitely the furthest north South Texas gets. Me personally, I've usually included SA with Central Texas.

I've seen it on this site several times, and like I said, it's rare... and obviously inaccurate. I don't really think of Houston as East TX either, though it is in the Eastern half of the state. Southeast is more like it. To me, East TX would be more like Tyler, Lufkin, Nacodoches, Longview-Marshall, and Texarkana. Houston straddles this region, but doesn't strike me as archetypical "East Texas".

SA could be considered both South and Central TX.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

They have universities, an international airport, they have some semblence of jobs and they control the economies of their area. They aren't big in relative terms, but neither is Houston when compared to Tokyo, NYC, or Seoul.

Well, Houston is about 634 square miles and could contain the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami within the city limits. I'd say that Houston is pretty big. Population wise, that is a different story, maybe what you meant?

And about those "International Airports"... just a joke. I used to fly weekly to Odessa from Houston and became friendly with the staff there on a first name basis, and I always used to go up and jokingly ask where the international gates were, or where the Customs check points were located. Their airport is an International airport, but only when they bring back criminals in custody, or receive emergency flights for injured, or sick people. Adding "International" to the airport name is like those "Color TV" signs on the old motels. But that was more than a few years ago, maybe they do serve Mexico, directly, does anyone know for sure?