7 Super Texan Sayings Newcomers Need To Learn Before They Move Here
Don't Mess With Texas! 🤠
Texas Staff Writer Brittany Cristiano in a cowboy hat. Right: A giant cowboy boot outside the Big Texan.
This Opinion article is part of a Narcity Media series. The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
People joke that Texans have their own language, and as a lifelong local, I'm inclined to agree with that statement.
There are just so many sayings, phrases and slang used all over Texas that anyone from out of state could hear and would make them say: "What does that even mean?"
With so many newcomers (basically Californians and celebrities) moving to the Lone Star State, it's only fair that we let them in on all the random things we say here.
So, here are some common sayings that come from Texas that you should learn before calling the state home:
"Y'all'd've"
Everyone knows the word "y'all" is a Texas classic, but be prepared to hear all sorts of iterations of the contraction word meaning "you all."
The silliest looking and sounding one you hear in Texas regularly is by far "y'all'd've," which means "you all would have," if you couldn't tell.
We Texans just love being lazy with our speech.
"Don't Mess With Texas"
Outsiders who read this on signs and car stickers might think it sounds like Texans are being defensive, but they are actually wrong.
The slogan "Don't Mess With Texas" actually comes from a popular statewide anti-littering campaign that reminds us all not to mess with the state's natural beauty by trashing it.
"The Icebox"
When someone says this, it's not just the freezer where the ice is actually made that Texans are referring to.
If you need to snatch something from the "icebox," they are referring to the whole refrigerator.
"Skeeters"
This is just a silly name we call those pesky, bloodsucking mosquitoes that swarm our lives in the summer and leave you itchiness to remember them by.
The state even once had a minor league baseball team called the Sugarland Skeeters, named after the hyper-local term.
"Bless Your Heart"
This one isn't specific to just the state, but since we are in the south, you hear it often.
If you ever hear these nice-sounding words, don't think they mean something positive, as the term is actually a thinly-veiled insult.
"Coke"
Beware Coca-Cola lovers because ordering a "coke" in the Lone Star State does not always mean you want that specific brand of ice-cold soda.
Many Texans refer to all sodas as a "coke," which was something that took my own Yankee parents a long time to get used to when they first moved here.
"I'm fixin' to"
Instead of saying we're "about to do something," most Texans say they are "fixin' to do something."
It's lazier to say that, meaning it's easy to add to your new Texas vocabulary, like: "I'm fixin' to go face this horrible Texas traffic" or "We're fixin' to eat some Tex-Mex."