My father was a Texan

[conuly]

In our home growing up we had Texas flags, barbed-wire Texas and Lone Star wall hangings, Texas snack serving dishes, multiple longhorn horns, some UT buttons (that played music!) and sweatshirts... you know, the usual. Never had a Texas shaped waffle iron. That would've made our house complete.

Chatted with my mother today as she watched Married at First Sight. New spouse walks into house, sees a single (!) longhorn skull and a single (!) decorative Texas plate on the wall, freaks because "I didn't know they were such a Texas fanatic". (Or words to that effect.)

It's entirely possible that my father was unusual in his love of his home state. Given the existence of Texas waffle irons (waffle irons!), though, I think I'm safe in stating that having merely two I'm-so-Texan identifiers on the walls is positively subdued.

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Comments

[rebeccmeister]

From the time I spent living in Texas, I'd agree with your assessment about two items constituting very subdued expression of Texanism. :^)

I tend to think Mickey Mouse waffle irons are more festive.

California also seems to feature many California-shaped items and California flags. The Arizona flag looks phenomenal on clothes. I always thought it would be hilarious if people got Washington State Flag running shorts - bright green shorts with the head of George Washington peering out.

[conuly]

Just in case they wake up one morning and forget where they live, huh?

California is such a boring shaped state, though. Texas makes sense - it's interesting! It's got panache! What're you gonna do with Cali?

[rebeccmeister]

Hahaha, I think I've mostly just seen California-shaped cutting boards. Maybe chocolate bars, too. But for that matter, I've also seen Washington-shaped ones, and I'm inclined to agree that California's pretty boring. On the other hand, there are plenty of other states that would be difficult to recognize in cutting board form!

[conuly]

I suppose a CA cutting board is more useful than a Hawaii cutting board.

[archangelbeth]

*cracks up*

While a longhorn skull is, well, imposing... C'mon, that's just 2 things! I'm with you. (Also, grew up mostly in Austin.)

[conuly]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure it was a longhorn skull. Those horns, they weren't that long. It may've been some other sort of steer.

[archangelbeth]

Pish and tosh, then! That's hardly Texan-display at all!

[rebeccmeister]

Hee hee! Hmm, I wonder what sort of useful object could be made from the Hawaiian islands...Maybe a set of plant pots, or something?

[conuly]

That's an idea! I'm thinking a snack tray? Not to scale, though.

FYI

[bibliofile]

The American Skillet Co. here in Wisconsin makes preseasonsed cast-iron skillets in the shape of the USA and the shape of Texas. Neither California nor Hawaii are avaiable -- yet.

Re: FYI

[rebeccmeister]

I think that tells us everything we need to know, haha!

Re: FYI

[conuly]

Do they have Wisconsin?

Re: FYI

[bibliofile]

Of course! And Oklahoma and a couple other states too. (I think they started with Wisconsin.)

[stardreamer]

PB&M? Ew. I think that's a dish better forgotten.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some people are intrinsically lucky or unlucky. My partner insists that every time he tries to make definite plans to do anything for fun, something will come along to trash them -- and the further out he tries to plan, the more likely and the more catastrophic that something will be. When I first moved in with him, I was sure that was just a combination of superstition and "counting the hits and forgetting the misses". After 20 years... damn if he isn't pretty much on the nose. Things which have trashed his or our plans to do something fun include a kidney stone, Con Crud, other people's medical issues, car problems, other people making plans that affect us without asking, unexpected large wholesale orders, hurricanes and other weather-related issues... the list goes on and on. Nor is it confined to things we do for fun; there's a reason most of my con reports start with a reference to schedule slippage. And things like this were very rare when I lived with my ex -- we could make plans months (sometimes years) in advance and they'd go off exactly as expected.

That vote-hacking article was all over FB last week, and the lead paragraph (though not the headline) said that the winning hacker was an 11-year-old GIRL. Now Reuters is saying it was a boy? I smell a correction to a media narrative here. Girls aren't supposed to do things like that.

ETA: There's also a reason that one of my standard responses to certain things is "I'm not a Texan, I just live here."

[conuly]

I have no idea if they were a girl or a boy, but the fact that multiple children did this is shocking.

ETA: There's also a reason that one of my standard responses to certain things is "I'm not a Texan, I just live here."

I do miss our barbed wire star, though.

[isis]

Texans tend to be OTT about their identification with their home state. (YouTube link to Lyle Lovett singing "That's Right (You're Not From Texas)")

[conuly]

The stars at night are big and bright....

[archangelbeth]

*sings* "Fifty stars stand for fifty states, and every city's first class / But Texas is the Lone Star State, and Austin is the star of Texas."

That was ON THE RADIO when I was a teen.

[conuly]

So, to rhyme that, do you say "Tex-ASS"?

[archangelbeth]

Pretty much, yup. Only without the emphasis. I think everyone went along with the not-quite-rhyme because the melody was pretty and it was Statriotic. (State-patriotic, that is. Statriotic.)

[conuly]

I'm cringing all the way over here. That's as bad as "A comb, and a brush, and a bowl full of mush, and a quiet old lady whispering hush."

[archangelbeth]

I swear, it sounded better on the radio!

...I'm going nuts trying to find the lyrics online now. I KNOW THAT SONG EXISTED, DARNIT.

[nodrog]

I looked carefully, and found no reference here to one of the coolest things about Texas, to me anyway:  Because the sovereign Republic of Texas joined the Union by treaty, not annexation, alone of all the States the Lone Star flag is flown alongside of Old Glory, not subordinate to it.

Nyaah, nyaah!

[conuly]

Yeah, that's not true.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/high-flier/

Sadder, but Wiser

[nodrog]

Oh, well, hell - it ought to be true.  BANG goes another of life's illusions.

Re: Sadder, but Wiser

[conuly]

So it goes :(

Re: Sadder, but Wiser

[archangelbeth]

Wouldn't be surprised if some Texans deliberately flew same-height.

This one is true, though: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-01-14/news/9901140152_1_texas-capitol-capitol-in-austin-taller (Legend has it that that's deliberate.)

Re: Sadder, but Wiser

[conuly]

Every state flag is allowed to fly same height... inasmuch as the flag code is enforceable by law, which it's not.

Re: Sadder, but Wiser

[archangelbeth]

Nah, nah, I mean they'd justify it with the myth, all deliberately.

[nocowardsoul]

That Ronald McDonald article is quite something.

[greghousesgf]

there used to be a lot of other weird rules about what Ronald could or could not do in TV ads, including:
no picking kids up, especially not letting kids ride piggyback on him
no racing
no ads involving animals
no making a kid disappear when doing magic tricks
no flying effects
no gestures implying effeminacy
no references which could be interpreted as occult (lol)

[conuly]

no picking kids up, especially not letting kids ride piggyback on him

Sensible, really, given the ongoing fears of child molestation.

[greghousesgf]

yeah, but the other rules are weird, and the reasoning for the no piggyback rule, oddly enough wasn't fear of molestation but the idea that physical contact was a no no due to the McDonalds corporation's rule that Ronald was a fantasy character and therefore was supposed to be always a little out of reach of kids.

[conuly]

Oh, then that IS weird. (The homophobic one is, sadly, not weird at all. It's just gross.)

[adafrog]

Very subdued. I've seen all sorts of crazy Texan decor here.

[conuly]

They're like a whole 'nother country out there.

[adafrog]

Yep.

[zyzyly]

I had and aunt and uncle who lived in Texas, and they were always sending me Texas-themed things. I think I still have a belt buckle, and something that says "Don't Mess With Texas!"

[conuly]

Which is originally an anti-littering slogan.

[monanotlisa]

Even other Southerners think the Texans are over-the-top. If that doesn't say it all...

[conuly]

They're the only state I know of where, if they leave, they're called expats. Texpats? Whatever, point is, they are.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"It's entirely possible that my father was unusual in his love of his home state."

Nah. Texans are like that. My first mother-in-law was a Texan; her house (in Dayton, OH.) would have looked right at home in San Antone.

[conuly]

Like I said, texas waffle irons. Texas. Waffle. Irons.

(Plus, we got our barbed wire star because my grandmother picked up when she happened to drop into the barbed wire store one day. She said this all casual, too.)