Why do Texans deny their southern heritage? (Houston, Dallas: construction, live)

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Originally Posted by love roses

I'm Texan and I always thought of Texas as Southern. It took me a while to figure out why people refer to it as Southwestern in flavor. I don't think that applies to the whole state though, only West texas. I grew up on the Texas gulf coast, so I'm pretty familiar with the texas that you are talking about....Big Oak trees dripping with spanish moss, plantation houses, bayous, alligators, beaches and also some cajun thrown in...etoufee, shrimp creole, etc..(referring to food). Texas doesn't really fit into one neat little category though. Different regions of the state have entirely different feels, so that's why you hear so many different views on it.

I agree. It depends on where your at here. I always thought we were considered "southern". Im realizing some dont see it that way. Not that its important really honestly. We are what we are according to what influences us. Texas, well it all goes back to geography. We have all the four different climates and the vastness puts us in contact with different cultures. The mexican heritage is all around us in everything. Western is more western. The south is more southern. East seems a little more up to date with modern society with the larger cities. Texas. Its south of the country. Its southern in location, a sssmelting pot of culture. And yes, we have an accent, but so does everybody else. What is the "true" sound anyways?! ltm...sheesh.

[spursfan]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

How would you know if you have an accent if you are from Texas and are surrounded by Texans? Texans generally don't think they have an accent but they clearly do. It's not obvious but it's clearly there. Jessica Simpson and Matthew Mcconaughey supposedly don't have accents either according to you guys but it's obvious to us. I'm from Cali and I can hear the accent even among people in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. You guys say ya'll instead of "all of you" as if its normal. I agree El Paso is not southern but the majority of Texas is not like El Paso. It's mostly southern

Because I've had people from the northeast be disappointed that i have no accent? In the suburbs you will not find a discernible accent with very many people b/c almost everyone moved there at some point from another state. How about the rio grande valley? Is that southern? And Bush is a Yankee... born in Connecticut to a northern family...not southern.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by spursfan

Because I've had people from the northeast be disappointed that i have no accent? In the suburbs you will not find a discernible accent with very many people b/c almost everyone moved there at some point from another state. How about the rio grande valley? Is that southern? And Bush is a Yankee... born in Connecticut to a northern family...not southern.

You got that right!

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by spursfan

Because I've had people from the northeast be disappointed that i have no accent? In the suburbs you will not find a discernible accent with very many people b/c almost everyone moved there at some point from another state. How about the rio grande valley? Is that southern? And Bush is a Yankee... born in Connecticut to a northern family...not southern.

Bush is a Texan born in CT because that's where it happened. He was raised in Texas, acts like one, talks like one, and will be one 'til he travels to higher ground. Last I heard, "northern" was not an ethnicity so because his folks are, as you say......Yankees......that doesn't make him one.

My dad was born in Germany, mom in New York, and I was born in NY and raised in CA. Am I a Yankee? I don't think so, but I'll claim to be a Californian.

[gabetx]

Originally Posted by traveler guy

Well if you would pay a visit to South Texas then you would see that a lot of Mexicans wear cowboy outfits and own ranches.

... I live in South Texas. I live in Corpus. I go to SA at least once a month as well. Im just talking about in the cities. It was kind of a joke. I know there are a lot of ranchers and farmers around. Its not only mexicans either. In Calallen its mostly white people.

Anyways, even if it is a joke, you cant call me racist. Im mexican, or to be politically correct, hispanic myself.

[traveler guy]

I never meant to call you racist or anything just saying that there are alot of cowboy mexicans out there. In the city you will see alot of older mexicans sporting the cowboyish outfits.

[uncle_el]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

You don't know me. I've spent a lot of time in Texas. It's just your way of not wanting to be associated with the south when you guys are clearly southern. It just suprises me because I'm originally from California and everyone in Arizona and California think of Texas as being southern. Likewise, Texans don't want to be thought of as being southern. I think you guys should embrace your heritage. It's what makes you unique. You guys are clearly not west or west coast. If you guys are not southern then Phoenix is west coast

i'm from cali, and i don't think of texas as being southern.

el paso and west texas have a different flavor from dallas. which is slightly different from austin, which have a different flavor from san antonio, which has a different flavor from houston, which has a different flavor from port arthur.

the parts of texas that feel southern are the parts that border southern states- i.e. arkansas, and louisiana. otherwise, most of it seems to have more of a southwest feel.

hell, if you want to take a look at just one thing, look at the bbq. texas bbq is much different from memphis bbq!

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

Ding Ding Ding...we
have a winner. At least one you is secure enough to admit it. When you hear President Bush speak, how do you not think of him as a southerner?

ever wonder why george w. is the only one who sounds like he's from texas... and he wasn't even born there?!

[GoingHome2TX]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Texas also flew the French flag, the Spanish flag, the Republic of Texas flag - six flags in all.

Seven, if one was to go by what modern day Texas encompasses. The Republic of the Rio Grande would be the seventh. It stretched from the Rio Grande to the Nueces.

Nacogdoches flew something like nine flags over her ground in her recorded history.

Don't take this as semantics, I am just trying to reitterate how much diversity we have had to the original poster.

Aside from Spaniards, French, Tejanos, Americans, Southerners, and Mexicans, we have had some other influences on shaping our history and culture.

Texas has raised cotton, milo, corn, grapes, peaches, watermellons and just about any thing a person can plant. A lot of Southern immigrants moved to her for this very purpose.

She has raised cattle, and is credited as having the only breed of cattle in America to evolve completely independant of mankind's efforts. The people who took advantage of this natural resource were Yankees (think Richard King), Southerners, and probably the most unsung hero of them all, Mexicans.

Texas has seen plenty of miners in search of gold and silver (and more recently, uranium and mercury) hack away at her surface. Most of the pioneers to this Texas resource came from the gold rush of California in 1849. Their origins ranged far to vastly to even begin to lump into one sentence.

Oil has seen a similar migration to what mining brought Texas. Spindletop wasn't the first well put down and drawing Texas Tea out of our soil, but it definately was a gunshot that was heard around the country (and possibly the world) for anyone looking at this "new" venture. They came in droves, they gave their lives in countless numbers, and a few made themselves wealthy.

Fishing, shrimping, and general seafaring jobs in/off the Texas coast have attracted a very diverse line up of foreigners, typically men who started out on the East Coast of America, both North and South. Remember, the first to take use of this resource were the Karankawa Indians.

The list goes on and on. My point is simple; we do not deny our heritage, but we don't consider ourselves primarily anything other than Texans. If you look hard enough at our history, you will find that just about every other state had residents that made an impact on moving in to Texas at some point and prospering at her countless opertunities.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

You don't know me. I've spent a lot of time in Texas. It's just your way of not wanting to be associated with the south when you guys are clearly southern. It just suprises me because I'm originally from California and everyone in Arizona and California think of Texas as being southern. Likewise, Texans don't want to be thought of as being southern. I think you guys should embrace your heritage. It's what makes you unique. You guys are clearly not west or west coast. If you guys are not southern then Phoenix is west coast

Why don't you just come clean on the purpose of your post? Did you lose your job with one of the fortune 500 companies that decided to up and move to TX (where more of America's Fortune 500 are based than any other state)? Or perhaps you are jealous because AZ is losing all it's non-stop flights as airlines return to their "core" business and eliminate the non-profitable areas (read: PHX)? And maybe the fact that most of said airlines abandoning you are Texas based (Southwest, AA, and Continental)? Or perhaps it's the real estate market tanking that has drawn out your ire towards places like TX where things seem to keep booming? Hey, you still have the beautiful Grand Canyon, just be happy about that. Great hiking up that way.

Anyway, good for you that you've traveled through TX! Everyone should do so at some time in their lives. But you clearly have no clue about the state (even from an outsider's perspective). I was originally from NE and get back there often, along with family in CA and FL. To pretty much every state, CA and TX are just big generic places where people go for jobs and opportunity and usually never come back. Yeah, we're Southern, Mexican, and Western... but mostly we're just transplants from everywhere, USA. People move to Opportunityland, USA... for most that is either TX or CA, with FL, NY, and IL right behind.

[Huckleberry3911948]

texas was a country b4 it became a state. its in a class all its own.