UPDATED! Avoiding those weird looks while visiting Texas
Written: Dec 22 '00 (Updated Dec 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: interesting take on English
Cons: it helps to speak the local lingo!
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| scmrak's Full Review: Texas |
Now that 'W' has been tagged for the move from the Texas Governor's mansion to that White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a lot of y'all will be wanting to stop by hereabouts and see what all the fuss is about. Well, come on down -- there's plenty of room (except around Austin)! But before you come, you ought to do a little homework and learn how to talk like a Texan. There's friendly folk in these parts, but they'll still look at you a bit funny if you say the wrong thing, especially if it makes you sound like one of those people from New England!
Now there are hundreds of Texan-English dictionaries out there that'll teach you how to say "fixin' to" instead of "ready to," and explain what the expression "all hat and no cattle" actually means. You can buy these and pronunciation guides at any souvenir shop when you get off the plane in Dallas or Houston or wherever. If you just can't seem to manage that Texas drawl a la J. R. Ewing, never fear -- the state's big enough that there are distinct accents from all points. So no one will worry about whether you've perfected the accent or not, just as long as you stop saying "you guys" and start saying "y'all"!
What those dictionaries never tell you is how to pronounce place names in Texas, so I thought that, in the interest of neighborliness, I'd get you started. Ready? Here's the drill: I'll give you the place name in italics, followed by how not to pronounce it in regular type, followed by the local pronunciation in boldface. The CAPITALIZED syllable is accented, OK?
Bexar (county around San Antonio) : not BECKS-ar, BARE
Buda (near Austin) : not BOO-duh, BYOO-duh
Burnet (near Austin) : not bur-NET,BURN-it
Coupland (near Austin) : not COOP-land, COPE-land
DeLeon (north-central) : not day-lay-OWN, DEE-lee-on
Elgin (near Austin) : not EL-jin, EL-gin with a hard 'g'
Gruene (near San Antonio) : not GROO-nee, GREEN
Guadalupe (Street, Austin) : not huah-dah-LOO-pay, GWAWD-uh-loop
Humble (near Houston) : not HUM-bul, UM-bul
Lamesa (west Texas) : not la-MAY-suh, la-MEE-suh
Llano (central Texas) : not YAH-no, LAN-oh
Manchaca (Austin suburb) : not mahn-CHAH-kuh, MAN-shack
Manor (near Austin) : not MAN-ner, MAY-ner
Mexia (east-central) : not MECKS-ee-uh, muh-HAY-uh
Palestine (near Tyler) : not PAL-us-tine, PAL-us-teen
Pedernales Falls (central) : not ped-er-NAH-lays, purd-en-AL-ees
Plano (Dallas suburb) : not PLAN-oh, PLAIN-oh
Refugio (on the Gulf Coast) : not reh-FOO-he-oh, ree-FYUR-ree-oh
San Angelo (west central) : not sahn-ahn-HEH-lo, san-ANN-jel-oh
San Felipe (street, Houston) : not sahn-feh-LEE-pay, san-FILL-ih-pee
OK, there are localized pronunciations everywhere, and I've fallen victim a time or two in other places (like Colorado and New Orleans). Maybe it's 'cause Texas is pretty darn big and has a lot of place names, but those localized pronunciations seem a bit more common around these parts. So I home this'll help you sound more like you're from the neighborhood when you visit.
Oh, and one last thing:
San Jacinto (a near-holy place, the site of the deciding battle in the Texas War of Independence) : not sahn-ha-SEEN-toe, san-juh-SIN-toe.
Mispronouncing that one (by local standards) is likely to earn you more than just a strange look!
So come on down to Texas, and see why the tourism department calls it "A Whole Other Country"!
ps -- The list of shibboleths above is far from complete, so feel free to send me any additions from your neck of the woods, and I'll add 'em to the list. Thanks in advance!
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