Cultural elements that are unique to Texas among southern states? (Houston: home, to live in)

[Mhundred]

Now just skimming the forum there's already been a huge thread debating whether texas is a western state or southern state? and the conclusion i got from there for the most part is it is indeed a southern state.

I'm just wondering however what elements would you say are unique about texas that differentiates itself from the other southern states? Are there things that someone from let's say Georgia or Tennessee coming to live in texas would find themselves not used to?

[sherissa]

I would say there is a more agressive attitude in texas than in the other southern states.

[lonestar2007]

The independence/pride might be unsettling to some.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by sherissa

I would say there is a more agressive attitude in texas than in the other southern states.

Whaddya mean? Like burning crosses on people's lawns? Or lynching uppity blacks? Or beatin' up yankees and homos?

Or just what exactly?

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Whaddya mean? Like burning crosses on people's lawns? Or lynching uppity blacks? Or beatin' up yankees and homos?

Or just what exactly?

I was thinking more along the lines of pride that toes the line of arrogance.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

I was thinking more along the lines of pride that toes the line of arrogance.

OK, there is a sense that to be from Texas is to be from somewhere recognisable. In England when we lived there, if I mentioned having moved there from Texas, there was no need to explain where that was. People would doubtless also have lots of images and ideas about the state, whether accurate or completely inaccurate. Now when I travel to England and tell someone we live in Delaware, very few people have the slightest idea where that is and certainly have no mental images of the state. The best approximation I recall getting was from a lady at our London church who asked if Delaware was anywhere near Connecticut (not really, but at least they're both on the east coast).

By contrast, to most people the rest of the South is just one homogeneous blob, with the possible exception of southern Louisiana and South Florida (which people don't really consider "the South" anyway). In the South, some of the cities have a big reputation (Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, etc), but Texas itself has a reputation quite apart from its well-known large cities.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Mhundred

Now just skimming the forum there's already been a huge thread debating whether texas is a western state or southern state? and the conclusion i got from there for the most part is it is indeed a southern state.

I'm just wondering however what elements would you say are unique about texas that differentiates itself from the other southern states? Are there things that someone from let's say Georgia or Tennessee coming to live in texas would find themselves not used to?

State pride, an independent streak, and a more "western" and Hispanic culture than someone from those states may not be used to. Also, the large cities (particularly Houston) are also very international and cosmo with residents from all over the world (e.g. large Asian populations by Southern standards.)

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

I was thinking more along the lines of pride that toes the line of arrogance.

Rather like New York and California, where "flyover states" are believed inferior in thinking and thus should "follow their lead" like it or not. Texas on the other hand, would rather be left alone.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Rather like New York and California, where "flyover states" are believed inferior in thinking and thus should "follow their lead" like it or not. Texas on the other hand, would rather be left alone.

Yep! Sort of reminds me of a description I read when we got a Great Pyrenees dog and I was studying up on the breed. The description said, "The Great Pyrenees has a great interest in minding his own business and would prefer that you do likewise." That would fit a Texan, I would think.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Mhundred

Now just skimming the forum there's already been a huge thread debating whether texas is a western state or southern state? and the conclusion i got from there for the most part is it is indeed a southern state.

Not just one thread, Mhundred, but probably a hundred!

But anyway, this is a good question, and perhaps (at least I hope like hell! LOL), is not going to turn into a big fight. You frame the question well. So to continue (IMHO), a "mistake" often made is that, when it comes to Texas? That being both "western and Southern", are mutually exclusive. And really, therin lies the key to the answer -- again, just in my own worthless opinion -- to the question you ask (more on that below).

Just as Kansas can be said to be both a Midwestern and western State, so can Texas be said to be both a Southern and western state. That is to say, in this context? As a point of comparrison? As it was, Kansas was overwhelmingly shaped by forces from the eastern Midwest and Texas by forces from the eastern South.

Neither of them were much influenced by the states which are considered the "West" by the Census Bureau today. They (Kansas and Texas) are both western in the sense a goodly part of their settlement and history patterns occured after the War Between the States. There is a frontier era, and an obvious and proud history of things associated. There was booming wealth with the cattle drives and cowboys and a history all its own that differed a bit from that of most of our southeastern cousins,.

But it has to be placed in its proper perspective. That is, something completely different from the basic history and development of a Colorado and Utah, or New Mexico and Arizona...where there is nothing classicially "Southern" about them.

I'm just wondering however what elements would you say are unique about texas that differentiates itself from the other southern states? Are there things that someone from let's say Georgia or Tennessee coming to live in texas would find themselves not used to?

In lots of ways, this question contains a certain appreciated humorous paradox! As in, it was those settlers from states like Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, who made up the bulk of new Texas settlers! Both prior to the WBTS, and definitely afterwards!

So in a nutshell, I would say the central opinionated answer to your great query would lie in that Texas has that "western frontier" flair -- a certain individualist spirit -- that is not so much common to the more laid back areas of the rest of the South. Thus, even though it was Tennesseans and Alabamans and Georgians who made it what it is? Some of their decendents who stayed behind might not feel quite so much comfortable moving to Texas.

BUT!? Again? All this has to be put into proper historical/cultural perspective. I know from experience (if that counts), that most far deep southeasterners who have ever moved/visited to Texas, say -- along the lines of:

"I don't necessarily consider Texas a typical Southern state, but I feel much more at home here than I do anywhere else..."

I think the point being made was that while lots in the so-called "Deep South" might consider Texas the "red-headed stepchild" or "western outlaw? They still empathically agreed that we were some sort of member of the branch, and not at all a part of the Rocky Mountain West nor Interior Southwest...

Oh well! LOL