Life in Texas - Texas - page 714

But it's not just about the way Texans say thangs, it's what they say. Though usage
might be fading a bit, colorful metaphors and similes still spice up conversations. This au-
thor's personal favorite is when her 95-year-old mother-in-law says something is 'so soft
it makes her ass laugh.' A few more fun ones (avert your eyes if you're easily offended):

» More nervous than a cat in a room fulla rockin' chairs .

» Hotter than a jalpeña fart .

» Purdy as a speckled pup .

» Slicker 'n owl sheee-it.

» He was on that like white on rice .

» He doesn't have sense 'nough to pour piss out-ov-a boot.

» She was hit with the ugly stick.

» This ain't my first rodeo.

» Dance with the one that brung ya

THE COWBOYS

Perhaps no other figure in literary or cinematic history has been so romanticized as the cowboy. The image has
become a symbol of the freedom of wide open spaces and the industrious and untamable nature of the Texan
people themselves.
Mexican vaqueros (wranglers) brought their methods to Texas and passed them on. The cowboys caught calves
using a lariat (from the Spanish la reata ), and imprinted them for identification using the heated-iron design of
the owner's brand. When the cowboys got bored they strengthened their skills by competing with one another;
events that have evolved into the rodeos you see all over the state come springtime.
But it's the cattle drive that most captured the cinematographer's vision of Texas. Around the end of the Civil
War, cowboys would herd thousands of cattle up the Chisolm Trail to Kansas City railroads. The pack was led by
a scout and chuckwagon, who would prepare food in advance of the arrival of the herd. To filter the dust, cow-
boys used bandanna handkerchiefs tied over their noses and mouths.
While horses would be changed in relays along the trail, the cowboy always kept his own masterfully crafted
saddle. By the 1880s the railroads had come to Fort Worth and most of the land was fenced. Cattle driving was a
hardscrabble life, one that didn't last more than a couple of decades, but the cowboy legacy in Texas endures
today.

Regional Differences
All inadequate, of course, but it is possible to make some vast
generalizations about the different personalities you'll find in
the cities and regions around the state.

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