New yorkers still don't fit (Houston, Dallas: neighborhood, to buy, elementary school)

[Muhnay]

If your out in West Texas, you would be very clean even though we still tend to have a drawl, but more in the words we use, we dont seem to have the long I here.. or the twang of a southerner.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

So most people in West TX don't really sound that way?
I thought I heard somewhere West TX was famous for a more "twangy" accent, compared to elsewhere in TX.

I'm familiar with how George W. Bush sounds and with his flat "I" sounds and a few other vowel pronounciations, he sounds distinctly southern, yet not a very southern, usually.

Clipped/precise speech?
That's the standard here too, though I usually prefer hearing whole sentences or even whole paragraphs that sound spoken on a single breath like my pal from NC.

Of the cartoon characters on King of the Hill, I like Dale Dribble's accent/speech delivery style the best. "Boomhauer" is very entertaining and cool sounding, but it's quite hard to understand. (so I wouldn't try to copy it, except for fun )

I suppose any Texan (west or not) would sound more twangy to someone from the east coast/far west/Midwest/Canada..?

I never even thought about Bush's accent, since he is not a Texan, even though he spent a few years here as a child. I guess he doesn't sound that "southern" to me....yet LA, AL, GA, MS, etc and other states south of me do.

By clipped/precise speech, I mean clear ennunciation, rather than running all of the words together. It's easily understood, and the words are more crisp. There's not any drawl. I don't really enjoy listening to a prounouced southern accent, LOL!!

KOTH? LOL!!! It may be one of my favorite programs, but that is because it is a SATIRE. It does make me wince to think that everybody else in the country thinks that Texans talk that way!! The only way I can understand Boomhauer is if closed captioning is on, LOL!!!

Dale Gribble is not to be believed in any form or fashion, including the way he talks, LOL!!!

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Muhnay

If your out in West Texas, you would be very clean even though we still tend to have a drawl, but more in the words we use, we dont seem to have the long I here.. or the twang of a southerner.

Yes, there is a drawl, but it doesn't sound "southern" to me. I didn't even think about that until I was in MS. Even LA has a pronounced southern drawl compared to West Texas.

We had some friends from Morgan City, LA, come in every year to go deer hunting. I remember that one walked into our kitchen....we had just gotten a new refrigerator.

Said he, "Oh, is that a new Frigi-DAH (Frigidaire)??"

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

I suppose any Texan (west or not) would sound more twangy to someone from the east coast/far west/Midwest/Canada..?

I never even thought about Bush's accent, since he is not a Texan, even though he spent a few years here as a child. I guess he doesn't sound that "southern" to me....yet LA, AL, GA, MS, etc and other states south of me do.

By clipped/precise speech, I mean clear ennunciation, rather than running all of the words together. It's easily understood, and the words are more crisp. There's not any drawl. I don't really enjoy listening to a prounouced southern accent, LOL!!

KOTH? LOL!!! It may be one of my favorite programs, but that is because it is a SATIRE. It does make me wince to think that everybody else in the country thinks that Texans talk that way!! The only way I can understand Boomhauer is if closed captioning is on, LOL!!!

Dale Gribble is not to be believed in any form or fashion, including the way he talks, LOL!!!

Actually the guy I heard say the West Texans sound twangy was from central Oklahoma.

I never knew the Bushes weren't from Texas.

I figured that's what you meant by clear ennuniciation. That's kind of what I meant by saying whole paragraphs in one breath, but not totally. What I've heard in NC is that while lips separate words, the voice box is still making a slight sound between words. So the consenents can still fully pronounced, just there's no "glottal stop."

I like that running of the words together, as long as I can figure out all the words and consenants, absent or otherwise, it sounds good to me for informal conversation.

People out in Canada's East Coast sometimes have an Irish sounding drawl.

Ya, Dale Dribble is a hilarious man. I loved that joke about the pollution controls and government conspiracies on why Hank's truck wouldn't start. BTW I can usually understand at least half of what Boomhauer says and I've never seen subtitles.

As far as actual Texans that I've heard talk, I liked Waylon Jennings, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack and a girl from Dallas I met here who was originally from Alabama.

[HonieB]

Originally Posted by wisdom4me

I hear there are many northerners who have moved to Texas. I have lived here 28 years and only met a handful. It's not just "yankees" that feel a little home sick at times It's people from all over the USA. It's only natural that we miss the place where we were born and raised. I have developed a good life here in the Woodlands Texas, I have raised 4 kids and now own a restaurant, but in all these years I still feel like a fish out of water. When I go to the store and talk with my Brooklyn accent I still get stares comments.I have not met a Texan who "get"s a sienfeld sense of humor" they just look at you like you have two heads, and try and ask for a cannoli in the grocery store. Don't get me wrong, I have met a lot of great texans, I just miss the ya da ya da ya da...

Hi, Just wanted to say...it's a small world. I was born in Brooklyn...Maimonides hospital....lived in Bay ridge til I was 9 when my family moved us to Queens. Anyway, my husband, children and I (now living in SoFL) are moving to The Woodlands this year! It's good to know there will be some fellow NYers around. As far as feeling homesick goes, I know it well...you can't get any cannolis in SoFL either (at least not REAL ones)...nor bagels for that matter. However, we've decided that the move to TX is a good one for a "better quality of life." Real estate prices and overcrowdedness in NY just doesn't appeal to us anymore...although if we had to back for job purposes, we'd live upstate. Most of my family still lives in LI or SI. We go back every once in while for holidays and such, and I do miss the nightlife NY has...but NY will always be there for us to visit.

Drop me an email if you like and maybe you can tell me about what life is really like in The Woodlands. Are the people as friendly as they made out to be while we were house hunting?

Take care!

[HonieB]

Originally Posted by LastDallasNative

Our ancestors here in Texas rolled out in the covered wagons. They made the dangerous trip to get away from the Eastern Establishment. If they liked the Eastern Establishment, they would have stayed there.

Therefore, it makes little sense to move to Texas and expect the descendents of those who left the Eastern states to agree or understand New Yorkers' ways or sense of humor. And since we Texans rejected the Eastern Establishment's ways, it is easy to see that the New Yorkers would reject Texans (carolinajack's comments).

Covered wagons? Eastern establishment? What year are you living in....1888???? I'm from Brooklyn and I've met many Texans in NY...I've never put them down or thought anything "stereotypical" of anyone. Anyone who does think that way is most likely uneducated and probably thinks a lot of bad things about fellow NYers as well. People should start facing the fact that the earth is getting smaller, via the power of the internet and that tolerance is a virtue.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

Actually the guy I heard say the West Texans sound twangy was from central Oklahoma.

I never knew the Bushes weren't from Texas.

I figured that's what you meant by clear ennuniciation. That's kind of what I meant by saying whole paragraphs in one breath, but not totally. What I've heard in NC is that while lips separate words, the voice box is still making a slight sound between words. So the consenents can still fully pronounced, just there's no "glottal stop."

I like that running of the words together, as long as I can figure out all the words and consenants, absent or otherwise, it sounds good to me for informal conversation.

People out in Canada's East Coast sometimes have an Irish sounding drawl..

As far as actual Texans that I've heard talk, I liked Waylon Jennings, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack and a girl from Dallas I met here who was originally from Alabama.

Central OK? And we sound twangy?!? LOL!!

The Bushes are an east coast family....Texas transplants much later. Bush the younger (born in CT) spent his grade school years here in Midland, TX, but attended prep school at Andover...and Harvard/Yale.

[notbeenthere]

I live in a rural area that has been flooded by NYers in the last few years. With the exception of transplanted police officers (really) I hear the following from them regularly: 1) too many gun clubs (I belong to 2 and there are 11 or 12 in the general area) and they allow shooting! 2) too many farmers (duh; it's farm country); 3) nothing to do (see no. 2); 4) bad restaurants (see no. 2); too much hunting (we can hunt most of the year, even in state parks and national forests, my neighbors (the locals) have guns (see no 2.); 4-H kids actually raise steers to butcher them! (I give up); and so on. Oh, one more thing. Ten years ago the schools here had open-door policies and no vandalism or gang activity. Now the middle and senior high schools are full of NYC gang activity and they use metal detectors, and the NYCers who brought their kids here are shocked, shocked, to find this out. One NYCer even told me to move out if I didn't like it. That sentiment was echoed last year by teenage NYCers in a major newspaper story about NYC gang activity coming to the area.

As they sing in the song, God bless Texas! I love Texas and Texans. And, I eat Texican, Tehano and TexMex whenever I'm in Texas, not Italian (I can't get great Italian food here either, but then I don't expect to or complain about it). And, I've never had to explain how to burn a steak when I'm in Texas either.

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Central OK? And we sound twangy?!? LOL!!

Well the book was first printed in 1987, and it was kind of old information at the time, mostly describing some of the history, stories and past trends of various Southern states.

Considering that, could the comment about west Texans sounding twangy compared to central OK have been valid anytime pre-1980?

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

Well the book was first printed in 1987, and it was kind of old information at the time, mostly describing some of the history, stories and past trends of various Southern states.

Considering that, could the comment about west Texans sounding twangy compared to central OK have been valid anytime pre-1980?

Canadian, the Oklahomans I knew and heard many, many times were from Oklahoma City (early 1980s)....and they didn't sound that different from West Texas to me! We might have a little bit more of a drawl, but....

Granted, SOME Texans do have a lot worse drawl than I do. My "I" may come out as "ah" at times (I really try to watch that), but it's a short one, not drawn out. Someone once asked me if I were from the Midwest.....and I was born and raised in WT...and have been here all but about a year of my 55 years.