What 10 things make a person "A Texan"? (Houston: home, buy)

[Dopo]

I don't think a person has to be born in Texas to be a Texan.
So I thought it'd be interesting to see what 10 things make a person a Texan.
I've lived in San Antonio and Houston for the past 7 years and here's a few things I've noticed about what seems to me like real Texans.

- Eats BBQ with tortillas
- Eats breakfast tacos
- Love hot sauce
- Love Shiner beer
- Can pronounce all the Spanish words in a mexican restaurant menu correctly
- Hates I-35
- Doesn't say "You guys" says "Y'all" (I'm still learning this one)
- Knows a mexican lady that makes amazing tamales
- Thinks of Mexico as "The place where cheap labor comes from"
- Thinks of anybody outside the Texas border as a "foreigner"

[NigerianNightmare]

1. Maybe?
2. Isn't that everyone (:
3. Definitely but I know some people who have been living all their lives in Texas that don't .
4. Minor here.
5. True
6. Isn't that universal
7. Say quite a bit of both actually.
8.My old babysitter's tamales, mm.
9. Not really, more of like "The place where good food comes from."
10. True in some cases and not so true in others, Depends on where your from, if your from Oklahoma or plains state north of that I can't tell. But East coast/ West Coast and Rockies and states like Louisiana, and the southern parts of Florida its easier to tell.

[TXsurburbanmom]

1. Why not, love them both
2. Yep
3. Total salsa snob. Like it fresh, not roasted, hot, pretty much pico de gallo tossed in a blender works. Can only find one bottled salsa I really like
4. I don't like beer. Love margaritas but not the calories so maybe 2-3 a year. I drink wine but I want to love beer and the whole Texas thing but it's yucky and it's all carbs
5. So true. Had to help when my out of state family was here. Poor waiter was clueless
6. Good lord, yes!
7. Y'all is by far one of the best words anyone ever came up with
8. I'm lazy, just buy Delicious from up the street but I know people who know that lady
9. I live in Stone Oak so Mexico is where the crazy rich, generally rude, Nationals move up from to escape the kidnapping threats and cartels
10. Yeah kinda, I feel a relationship with the south but since my great great grandpa was a Ranger for the Republic of TX I've always felt like a citizen of Texas first - making everyone else foreigners. I'm awful friendly to them though, as long as they don't trash my state.

[TheOverdog]

Additional:
1) Loves Willie Nelson.
2) Can pronounce all the Spanish words in a mexican restaurant menu correctly - but has no problem with "Amarillo" or the "Rio Grande" or other Texas-ifications.
3) Thinks Tex-Mex is a proper style of food
4) Doesn't whine when it gets hot - Texans don't have to like heat, they just don't whine about it.
5) Even if you can't ride a horse and have never branded a cow, you have still seen one close enough to pet it, and not in a zoo or zoo-equivelent.

Eats BBQ with tortillas

I say no to this but I think we should get behind it. Tortillas are 10000X better than that crappy stale white Mrs Bairds garbage that is served with bbq in most traditional joints. You have a chef back there and a smoker - use it for stuff other than meat. Mrs Bairds is fine for a balogna or peanut butter sandwich but it has no place on a legitimate restaurant's menu.

[tomchard]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I don't think a person has to be born in Texas to be a Texan.
So I thought it'd be interesting to see what 10 things make a person a Texan.
I've lived in San Antonio and Houston for the past 7 years and here's a few things I've noticed about what seems to me like real Texans.

1 Eats BBQ with tortillas
2 Eats breakfast tacos
3 Love hot sauce
4 Love Shiner beer
5 Can pronounce all the Spanish words in a mexican restaurant menu correctly
6 Hates I-35
7 Doesn't say "You guys" says "Y'all" (I'm still learning this one)
8 Knows a mexican lady that makes amazing tamales
9 Thinks of Mexico as "The place where cheap labor comes from"
10 Thinks of anybody outside the Texas border as a "foreigner"

... Well-llll-lll ... I'd have to take exception to some of those observations, but some others might also be indicative of where (in TEXAS) you're living.
Here are "Top Ten Things That Make Someone a Texan" to think about, too:

1 How friendly (maybe even 'outgoing') the person is ... Do they introduce themselves, or just stand there, waiting for you to say "Howdy"?

2 Offers me (or you) a beer - regardless if it's Lone Star, Shiner, or Bud Light ... Or, iced tea, if you don't drink (alcohol).

3 If I'm eatin' BBQ with tortillas, I'm probably in a Mexican restaurant, where they call it "barbacoa" - If I'm eatin' TEXAS Beef BBQ, I might have a piece of white bread with it, to sop-up the leftover sauce; and, it'll all be served on a large length of butcher paper.

4 Many of the Born-in-TEXAS folks I've ever eaten with, don't know how to pronounce the Spanish words on a menu correctly - especially those ol' boyz from out in West TEXAS ... jus' sayin' ... Someone once asked me "hester bway-ner?" (estoy bueno?) - I had no idea what they meant from the way they pronounced it!

5 From Laredo all the way thru Denison, I don't think there's a TEXAN who does like IH-35 ...

6 When I was a lot younger, one of the first words I learned to pronounce was "Y'all" ... Even though I'm stuck out here in Cali, I continue, to this day, to use "Y'all" ... It's a "differentiator".

7 As a matter-of-fact, I do know of a lady who made amazing tamales - her youngest son continues the tradition, too!

8 I'm afraid I don't hold a very high opinion of (the nation of) Mexico, these days. However, I work with some extremely nice, well-educated, highly-compensated, folks-of-Mexican-descent. So, I'll say no more about that.

9 As far as "foreigners" go, we're all "foreigners" in some way, shape or category. Shoot! I know I am! TEXANS are a welcoming bunch, they "never met a stranger", and most-everyone's ancestors were from somewhere-else. About the only folks I would consider "foreigners" are Cajuns - but, that's a whole-other topic, for another time.

10 At the risk of sounding like a TEXAS Tourism Board advertisement or something, I can never wait to get back home to visit, and do that as often as possible. Living outside of TEXAS, I'll have to say ... "You can take th' boy outta TEXAS, but you can't take TEXAS outta th' boy"!
... Thanks for your opinions, too! ...

[radiolibre99]

Knows a lady who makes amazing tamales is SPOT ON! LOL.

That made me laugh cus its so true. The list is kinda accurate.

How about Texans split on city vs small town living, while both agreeing the burbs is less desirable? There's a lot of snobbery by folks being from different locales. Austintude, Dallas pretentiousness, inner looper vs outer loop Houstonians, anti-suburb snobs, and pridefully humble small towns are the best kinda people.

[froglipz]

You forgot wears "cowboy" boots, and claims they are comfortable with doing so.

[tomchard]

Originally Posted by froglipz

You forgot wears "cowboy" boots, and claims they are comfortable with doing so.

... "It's Ironical" - as they used to say in South Austin! --- Some real, "Country" friends of mine still wear them (c'boy boots) every day. Admittedly, these days, most of 'em are settin' on their backsides in an office, though. Go figure ...
I continue to wear "Ropers" for work and dress - they have a lower heel and shaft, and cause less wear-and-tear on knees, ankles, hips, etc ... They're closer to a city-boy, street shoe. 'Course, (for-now) I live in the big city, so there ya go.
...

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I don't think a person has to be born in Texas to be a Texan.
So I thought it'd be interesting to see what 10 things make a person a Texan.
I've lived in San Antonio and Houston for the past 7 years and here's a few things I've noticed about what seems to me like real Texans.

- Eats BBQ with tortillas
- Eats breakfast tacos
- Love hot sauce
- Love Shiner beer
- Can pronounce all the Spanish words in a mexican restaurant menu correctly
- Hates I-35
- Doesn't say "You guys" says "Y'all" (I'm still learning this one)
- Knows a mexican lady that makes amazing tamales
- Thinks of Mexico as "The place where cheap labor comes from"
- Thinks of anybody outside the Texas border as a "foreigner"

I'm a real Texan; I was born and raised here.

1.) No.
2.) No.
3.) Eh.
4.) No.
5.) Yes.
6.) Who doesn't?
7.) Depends on who I'm with.
8.) No.
9.) No.
10.) No.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by tomchard

... "It's Ironical" - as they used to say in South Austin! --- Some real, "Country" friends of mine still wear them (c'boy boots) every day. Admittedly, these days, most of 'em are settin' on their backsides in an office, though. Go figure ...
I continue to wear "Ropers" for work and dress - they have a lower heel and shaft, and cause less wear-and-tear on knees, ankles, hips, etc ... They're closer to a city-boy, street shoe. 'Course, (for-now) I live in the big city, so there ya go.
...

What surprises me is that I was born and raised in Katy, before it became a hit too, and when growing up we just followed the latest trends in fashion and music. But now whenever I visit houston the more I see how big the "country" look has gotten. It always used to be a thing that so called "kickers" would wear and differentiated from the "gangsters", "preps" and "bangers". But I go back each time and more young, middle and old people are sporting the hunter or blue collar look in some way. Especially out in the newly developed burbs right outside of town; Richmond, Fulshear, Ft Bend, Katy, etc.

Did I miss a big trend? What happened? I saw an Asian couple last Xmas wearing the cammo hat and getting into a big white truck.