The map of Texas draws inspiration from more cultures than almost any other American state. There are Czech names: Praha, Moravia, Dubina. German ones: Breslau, New Baden, New Ulm, or New Braunfels, t...

I assume the first Spanish word I ever heard was gringo. The second word I heard was pinche, which came before gringo and was aimed at me. I wasn’t offended. At the time, my

Slang is the working class of words. American poet Carl Sandburg once said, “Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and gets to work.” But slang is always changing. For old...

When Admiral Perry reached the North Pole, Texas legend says he declared: "Must be a cold day in Amarillo!" Link

If you watch old westerns about Texas, you’ll hear names like Tex, Laredo, Rio, Hondo, and Amarillo. You’ll hear dialogue like this: “Tex, you seen Rio around? Nope,

Sometimes a city nickname is a matter of municipal marketing; other times, it’s simply something that caught on. Cities often have both kinds of nicknames. Huntsville is known as “Prison City,” for ex...

He dove deep into demonymology. It sounds sinister, but it isn’t the study of demons; it’s simply the study of what people from certain countries or cities are called. Or, put simply in Texas slang: H...

There are two types of measurement systems in the world: metric and imperial. Every country except three uses metric (although some

“Fixin’ to” is the national verb of Texas. You’ll certainly hear it in other states too, but it’s especially common in Texas. For many of

There’s a list of the most commonly mispronounced words in Texas. Of course, they aren’t exclusively Texan—many are typical across the American South, but they’re certainly common in Texas. And that d...

In classic Texan English, there are plenty of letters you simply don’t need. You can get rid of them. That’s a perfect example: You can do without the “th” in “them”: Get rid of ’em.

A sweet lady recently wrote to tell me how happy she was that her son had a proper, solid, two-syllable Texan name. “His name is Ben,” she wrote. That delighted me. That’s what we do, isn’t it? At lea...