Do people really believe in Texas' Stereotypes?

[Tomorrow]

I bet. I don't think someone like me would like it though. It would be terribly frustrating- too many cowboy hats and too much Jesus.

Lee, I think there are some parts of Dallas where you'd feel right at home. I used to work in The Gayborhood and never saw a single cowboy hat or heard a single Jesus reference. And the restaurants were awesome.

no.... that is wrong... they DO wear big hats, spit tobacco goo and wear big-arse buckles!

I've lived here nearly 15 years, and I could probably count the number of guys like that I've seen on one hand.

I want to wear leather pants, boots, a giant hat and drive a big pink Cadillac with horns strapped to the grille.

Not sure where you're trying to fit in with that look, but I do wish you luck.

 

[electroshock]

I like Texan law enforcement -- they look cool like this:

...and are pretty good with their roundhouse kicks. (Couldn't resist a stupid/silly stereotype being thrown in.)

All kidding aside, with family in different parts of Texas, got to see some of the state and it's definitely a large and varied place. You generally don't want to get in a fight because you never know if the other person is armed, though. It's nice seeing supermarket cashiers (Randall's, HEB, Kroger's, etc...) call out a friendly 'Have a nice day, ya heah!' Was in a Dallas bar once with cousins and the bartender correctly pegged 99% of us as not being from around there when he said 'OK, so what'd you like tonight, Yanks?' Was nice about it, just strange to be called Yank -- not used to that.

Texas is nice in one way: they don't laugh at you for saying Howdy, unlike in the North. Small town Texas can be a very interesting place such as some I drove through on Highway 290 between Austin and Houston. Still lots of Texas left to see.

 

[leekohler]

Lee, I think there are some parts of Dallas where you'd feel right at home. I used to work in The Gayborhood and never saw a single cowboy hat or heard a single Jesus reference. And the restaurants were awesome.

I'm sure- but I'd like to feel welcome in more places than the gay neighborhood. I feel at home pretty much everywhere in Chicago, NYC and LA.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

I'm sure- but I'd like to feel welcome in more places than the gay neighborhood. I feel at home pretty much everywhere in Chicago, NYC and LA.

In all honesty, I'm sure that as long as you didn't live in the Christian suburbs, you'd be fine. But obviously if you lived in Oak Lawn you'd be fine...

 

[leekohler]

In all honesty, I'm sure that as long as you didn't live in the Christian suburbs, you'd be fine. But obviously if you lived in Oak Lawn you'd be fine...

You'd have to prove it. My friends in Texas tell me horror stories.

 

[Kashchei]

I have lived in Texas and found the kernel of truth to the stereotype. I gave pre-concert lectures for the Dallas Symphony, and there were always men who thought the best way to dress up for the occasion was to wear their best pair of blue jeans, a western shirt and jacket, western tie, ostrich or alligator boots and as big a cowboy hat as possible. I'm sure they would have been strapped if given the chance; unfortunately for them, there was a prominent sign at the door saying that firearms were not allowed in the concert hall.

 

[caligurl]

ok.... this thread is starting to scare me... i think i'll go talk about purses, now!

 

[mscriv]

I've posted several witty/humorous comments in some of the threads on here that poke fun of the DFW stereotypes people tend to believe. What most people don't take into account is that DFW has a lot of immigrants and by that I simply mean people who have transplanted here from another part of the country or the world. The sheer size of the area and the amount of business here brings people from all over and commuting is just a way of life. The population is also quite diverse depending on where in the metroplex you live.

Here's some statistics from the 2000 Census on Dallas and Tarrant Counties. For those of you not familiar with the area Dallas County would encompass the city of Dallas and a majority of the outlying suburbs. Tarrant County would encompass Fort Worth and Arlington with other outlying areas.

Table DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000
Geographic area: Dallas County, Texas

Total population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,218,899 - 100.0%

SEX AND AGE
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,108,200 - 49.9%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,110,699 - 50.1%
Median age (years) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.1 (X)
18 years and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,599,868 - 72.1%
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791,709 - 35.7%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808,159 - 36.4%
65 years and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178,872 - 8.1%
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,961 - 3.2%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107,911 - 4.9%

RACE
One race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,158,975 - 97.3%
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,294,769 - 58.4%
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450,557 - 20.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . 12,499 - 0.6%
Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88,369 - 4.0%
Asian Indian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,752 - 1.1%
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,094 - 0.5%
Filipino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,617 - 0.3%
Japanese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,193 - 0.1%
Korean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,303 - 0.4%
Vietnamese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,355 - 1.0%
Other Asian 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,055 - 0.6%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . 1,277 - 0.1%
Native Hawaiian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 -
Guamanian or Chamorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 -
Samoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 -
Other Pacific Islander 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 -
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311,504 - 14.0%
Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,924 - 2.7%
Race alone or in combination with one
or more other races: 3
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,343,900 - 60.6%
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462,609 - 20.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,777 - 1.0%
Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98,563 - 4.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . . . 2,920 - 0.1%
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350,798 - 15.8%

HISPANIC OR LATINO AND RACE
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662,729 - 29.9%
Mexican. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531,115 - 23.9%
Puerto Rican. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,534 - 0.2%
Cuban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,624 - 0.2%
Other Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122,456 - 5.5%
Not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,556,170 - 70.1%
White alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983,317 - 44.3%

Table DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000
Geographic area: Tarrant County, Texas

Total population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,446,219 - 100.0%

SEX AND AGE
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716,001 - 49.5%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730,218 - 50.5%
Median age (years) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.3 (X)
18 years and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,039,747 - 71.9%
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508,151 - 35.1%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531,596 - 36.8%
65 years and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120,585 - 8.3%
Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,510 - 3.4%
Female. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72,075 - 5.0%

RACE
One race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,409,890 - 97.5%
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,030,208 - 71.2%
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185,143 - 12.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . 8,300 - 0.6%
Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52,594 - 3.6%
Asian Indian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,821 - 0.7%
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,828 - 0.4%
Filipino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,322 - 0.2%
Japanese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,253 - 0.1%
Korean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,210 - 0.2%
Vietnamese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,396 - 1.3%
Other Asian 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,764 - 0.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . 2,252 - 0.2%
Native Hawaiian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 -
Guamanian or Chamorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 -
Samoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 -
Other Pacific Islander 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,406 - 0.1%
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131,393 - 9.1%
Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,329 - 2.5%
Race alone or in combination with one
or more other races: 3
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,060,852 - 73.4%
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192,589 - 13.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,558 - 1.1%
Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,749 - 4.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . . . 3,585 - 0.2%
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150,966 - 10.4%

HISPANIC OR LATINO AND RACE
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285,290 - 19.7%
Mexican. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227,701 - 15.7%
Puerto Rican. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,793 - 0.5%
Cuban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,674 - 0.1%
Other Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,122 - 3.4%
Not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,160,929 - 80.3%
White alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895,253 - 61.9%

- Represents zero or rounds to zero. (X) Not applicable.
1 Other Asian alone, or two or more Asian categories.
2 Other Pacific Islander alone, or two or more Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander categories.
3 In combination with one or more of the other races listed. The six numbers may add to more than the total population and the six percentages
may add to more than 100 percent because individuals may report more than one race.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

Texas State Data Center website.

 

[Mousse]

You'd love Austin. Not much Jesus yet plenty of good looking cowboys wearing cowboy hats.

Urban cowboy. In other words, posers. Real cowboys are rarely scene in cities. Good thing,too. Most have personal habits that'd make a baboon blush. There's a saying: "You're not a real cowboy until you've stepped in cow sh**."

 

[Tomorrow]

I'm sure- but I'd like to feel welcome in more places than the gay neighborhood. I feel at home pretty much everywhere in Chicago, NYC and LA.

Touché. Most of the Dallas area seems (to me) to be pretty open-minded - but there are definitely pockets that aren't.

 

[Drumjim85]

So, the answer is yes.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

So, the answer is yes.

Everyone that has been seems to say that it's not so much, particularly concerning Dallas.

 

[yg17]

If you want stereotypes, you should see some of the ones I get when I tell people I'm from Mississippi. It blows my mind that people actually believe some of that stuff.



Atlanta. I can't stand Atlanta. I agree about Dallas for the most part. Fort Worth is decent in that they have embraced their cow town heritage, but Dallas proper is kind of bland. I personally prefer San Antonio or Austin.

And DFW is freakin' huge. Coming from a state where the largest metro area has around 200k people, DFW seems like a state unto itself. My brother lives in Arlington, and it always blows my mind when I'm driving to see him. Seeing signs like "Dallas: 40, Fort Worth: 70" amaze me, since they are both part of the same metro area. If I drive 30 miles from my house, most of the time, I will be in forest or farmland. It really hit me a while back, when I was looking to take a class in Plano. I thought I would save some money by staying with my brother while in the class. Then I looked it up on Google maps, and it was 40+ miles from his house to the training facility. Ouch.

30 miles isn't too bad. The outer most suburbs of St. Louis are about 35 miles from downtown. I'm 20 miles away smack dab in the middle of the suburbs (it's actually 30 miles away by car on the highways since the highway that goes straight through the metro area is closed for the next few months, with that open it's 20 miles)

 

[Little HZ]

I'm a big fan of Bill Moyers--who was raised in Texas. He pretty much gives the lie to Texas stereotypes.

PS

Sterotypes? Is this a new product Microsoft is making?

ROFL!!!!!

 

[mscriv]

30 miles isn't too bad. The outer most suburbs of St. Louis are about 35 miles from downtown. I'm 20 miles away smack dab in the middle of the suburbs (it's actually 30 miles away by car on the highways since the highway that goes straight through the metro area is closed for the next few months, with that open it's 20 miles)

My wife's family lives in IL about 30 minutes outside of St. Louis. They say the interstate being closed has caused major problems and it's been going on for a long time if I recall.

The thing about the DFW is not really the distance although you could easily be 60 miles away from something depending on what part of the Metroplex you are going to. If you look at the map I posted above you can see there are major highways everywhere, but traffic is a serious factor. My office is about 29 miles from my home, but depending on the time of day and what is going on it could easily take me anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half to make the trip. You just get used to driving when you live here, because it's a part of life.

It actually feels weird now when I go back home to Nashville and can get just about anywhere in less than 30 minutes.

Back to the original topic of stereotyping. I've found that anyone who has actually lived in the DFW for a while and gotten to experience the entire metroplex, quickly learns that the stereotypical Texan is the exception and not the rule. It's the people who have never lived here or only visited Fort Worth to see the stockyards that think we're all a bunch of backwards cowboys and oil tycoons.

 

[SkyBell]

It's not really true. There are definitely more then a few people around here who fully embody the Texas stereotype, but overall we're just "normal" people with a funny accent.

 

[dukebound85]

When I moved to NY, some seriously thought that the west didn't have internet....makes me question the intelligence of the NE to say the least

 

[steve2112]

It's not really true. There are definitely more then a few people around here who fully embody the Texas stereotype, but overall we're just "normal" people with a funny accent.

Nah, it's everybody else who has a funny accent.

When I moved to NY, some seriously thought that the west didn't have internet....makes me question the intelligence of the NE to say the least

This is the type of idiotic stereotype I was talking about when I tell people where I'm from. Yeah, buddy, I got my first email/unix account in 1990. How about you? I either say that or something like "nah, even though I work on a network with 3000 users, 100 or so remote sites, and 70 or servers, we don't have any internet. None at all."

Oh yeah. Shoes. I've had people say they were surprised I was wearing shoes. I wish I were making that up.

 

[yg17]

My wife's family lives in IL about 30 minutes outside of St. Louis. They say the interstate being closed has caused major problems and it's been going on for a long time if I recall.

Yeah, it's a giant fustercluck. The first half was closed in 2008, and in 2009, the first half opened and the second half closed. They'll be done in December hopefully. That interstate being closed adds 10 miles to my commute each way.

 

[shivermetimbers]

I am a NorCal native. I have been to Texas numerous times. I can honestly say, I have had a bitchen time there and the people are great. I would go there again in a heartbeat. I am a fan of BBQ'ing. Texans' know how to BBQ, drink beer and the women and quite friendly also.

 

[Gelfin]

Practically my entire exposure to Texas has been Austin. Therefore I am eminently qualified to tell you what Texans are like.

1. They do indeed talk funny.
2. They are weird and wear tie dyed shirts insisting you keep them that way.
3. They get really, really drunk downtown.
4. They have the best movie theaters on Earth.
5. They're awfully proud of the limits of their cities.
6. They're staggeringly nice folks unless they happen to be waiting your table, in which case they're inexplicably the opposite of that.
7. Nevertheless, if you play your cards right they will eventually bring you salsa and melted cheese on a schnitzel, which just seems wrong somehow, but it will be awesome.

 

[Tomorrow]

6. They're staggeringly nice folks unless they happen to be waiting your table, in which case they're inexplicably the opposite of that.

Now that's damn peculiar - you're about the fifth person I know of to have said that about restaurants in Austin. Maybe there's a pattern.

I took my wife to Eddie V's in Austin and the service was fine; granted, they're a little more upscale than where I would normally go. But what you've said seems to be true for the more casual places.

I have not necessarily noticed this to be the case outside of Austin. And yes, we do have some awesome movie theaters (with full restaurant service!) here.

 

[mkrishnan]

Now that's damn peculiar - you're about the fifth person I know of to have said that about restaurants in Austin. Maybe there's a pattern.

Why do I feel like we've had this conversation before?

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Practically my entire exposure to Texas has been Austin. Therefore I am eminently qualified to tell you what Texans are like.

I love Austin, but that's a dangerous statement. While nothing was too out of the norm of what you ended up saying. There is a reason why people sell shirts that say "Keep Austin Weird." And no, it's not just because they want to be special, it's really a different city within Texas.

 

[mscriv]

4. They have the best movie theaters on Earth.

I love Austin, but that's a dangerous statement. While nothing was too out of the norm of what you ended up saying. There is a reason why people sell shirts that say "Keep Austin Weird." And no, it's not just because they want to be special, it's really a different city within Texas.

Putting your comments together gives us a good description of The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. Truly the most original movie theaters I've ever been to. It rocks.