Norwegians Use the Word “Texas” as Slang to Mean “Crazy” | Hacker News Reader

Norwegians Use the Word “Texas” as Slang to Mean “Crazy”

texasmonthly.com

37 pointsjtoll46 comments

Texan here: this makes me kinda proud.

As a side note: I briefly lived in the UK. Once while on vacation on the continent a tour guide asked everyone in the group where we came from. The other Americans in the group all said "America" or "the States", but we said "Texas". The tour guide said that's always what Texans say.

:-)

As an American living in Germany, all I can say is: you guys are the Bavaria of the U.S.

"like the “wild west,” and at least back when the expression was coined, the “wild west” held very strong Texas associations" - I think that's the key before anyone gets upset. Sounds like it's a holdover/modification of the way Americans use/d "wild west"

People rarely read beyond headlines, so brace yourself for long-winded debates over George W., modern day gun control etc.

I live on the far west edge of Europe, unfortunately a lot of the population have a screwed stereotype vision of Americans and the US.

Some of it might be deserved (the Bush years done incredible damage to the reputation of the US) a lot of it is not, and this is coming from my multiple experiences over the years of visiting almost every one of the lower 48 states.

As for Texas its probably one of my more favourite locations in US (behind Arizona, Utah and Georgia), these Norwegians should stereotype less and travel a bit more they be in for a pleasant surprise and the place aint that crazy ;)

It's not based on stereotypes of Texas and Texans, but rather of the Wild West - as in the location of cowboy movies. There exists equivalent phrases refering to the Wild West directly, and at one point it seems "Texas" became (or perhaps already was) synonymous with "the wild west".

Speculation: in addition to cowbody movies, it probably has something to do with the norwegian book series Morgan Kane[1] from the 60s, as the phrase is mostly heard from people from around that time and before. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Kane

I remember when I first when backpacking across Europe. (I'm American, by the way). This was around 2003 or 2004. I had this preconceived notion that Americans were generally idiotic, and Europeans were much more knowledgable in world affairs. What I came to realize was that they are just as retarded as we are, but have more access to distinct cultures/languages because of how small countries are over there. They don't realize that while we're all "Americans", there is a massive difference between in people from Miami, Houston, New York, and Boise. Just because we speak the same language and use the same currency doesn't make us all the same.

As for the reputation of the States, I found there was a dislike of American politics, but not Americans in general. And jokes made about us are just that: jokes. We do the same about other countries, races, etc.

Agreed. "Man on the street" works every bit as well in London or Paris or Munich as it does in LA.

*skewed

America is insane by any country's standards.

Somewhat related: As an (northern, not southern) American tourist, I was visiting Scotland when I left my car in a parking deck after hours. I buzzed the gate-keeper to unlock the gate, and upon hearing my accent he said, "What? Do you not read signs? Ah, you're from Texas; the lone-star state. We don't have guns here. We're much more civilized." I had not mentioned anything related to Texas. Speaks a lot of his thought process, however.

I couldn't get your point. Was the gate not actually locked and you had assumed it would be? I assume you came back with some equally witty country stereotype like "well being Scottish I'm just glad you're sober after 6pm"

No, sorry, I should have mentioned the parking deck closed early, and was signed (though not in an prominent way) as such. So we could not get out. We made no witty reply, but did have a good laugh about it later.

The first time I ever heard the phrase "Texas Hedge" was on the floor the Chicago Mercantile exchange. So maybe people in Chicago also think Texans are a bit crazy too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_hedge

I was born in Texas and have lived here for most of my life. I travel a lot and get to see many locales and cultures, especially in the US.

Texas really has two sides to it:

There is the traditional 'Texas' that most people outside of Texas probably think of. It's the guy on his land that walks around with his gun in one hand and the bible in the other, literally and metaphorically. Many of these people are close minded to new thoughts or ideas. They don't like anything that doesn't fit in with how they were raised. You will find many girls saying, "I want a man who's country." When you ask them what that means, they say, "has good family values, hard working, owns a truck" and many others of course. I've even said, "Well I live in downtown Dallas, so I'm not 'country' in that aspect, but I do believe in strong family values...and well I don't own a truck because I simply don't need one." And I'm immediately rejected. And told that I can't have good morals/values...This has happened to me several times. I do have to say that these people are still nice. For the most part they will not be rude to you, and they will keep a smile. Yes, they are highly ignorant, but at least they are..for the majority of them, polite and non violent about it.

Then there is the other side of Texas. This is usually in the cities...Dallas, Austin, Houston, and various suburbs. These places have probably some of the nicest people I've met in the U.S. Many people in these cities aren't even from Texas. They have had some of the most job growth in the nation in the last few years. Most people here are completely opposite of what most people from outside think of Texas think of.

Some of my friends recently visited me in Dallas, who had also never been to Texas before, said "This is not at all what I was expecting...I love Dallas!". We have some of the top schools in the nation, some very nice people, a ridiculously good economy, lower cost of living and mild winters. (Ok, the traffic is getting really bad here because the highways can't keep up with the population growth...). Many of my friends moved here because their job moved here, and they said initially they were pretty disappointed in having to move to Texas. Now, they won't leave. These friends are from Seattle, Washington D.C., NYC, SF, LA, Chicago, Den, all over.

I encourage anyone who has not visited Texas before to give it a shot, go to Dallas, Austin and around those areas, you're in for a surprise.

South Texas is a third cultural area, also mostly small towns and rural, but majority Spanish-speaking, and quite a bit different culturally than the Anglo parts of rural Texas.

However I don't think Norwegians using this slang term are thinking of any of those kinds of Texas. They're instead thinking of the Texas where you ride into town on a horse with a six-shooter hanging from your belt, kicking up a cloud of dust while banjo music plays furiously, jump off your horse, and burst through swinging saloon doors.

Yes, Dallas and Austin are nothing like Texas' Hollywood persona. BTW ping me -- I live in Downtown Dallas too.

It's sad to see some people get defensive and try to pit this as a "europe vs the US" thing, even bringing up the Utøya tragedy and Breivik. The article is just click bait, and sensationalism at its worst.

"Texas" is a slang to mean "wild west", like they say further into the article. I don't know why they try to pin it as "crazy". It doesn't have anything to do with stereotypes. It stems from old westerns and has been in our language for decades. "Texas" in the 60s and 70s was Bonanza, cowboys and spaghetti westerns for most people in Norway. The expression just stuck. That's how language works.

But Texas wasn't really the wild west, the "wild west" was mostly what now are the central and north western states and California.

Nothing wrong with the article itself but hacker news seems to be going south... pun possibly intended

This comment section is awful, and might be my personal HN sharkjump moment.

Reminds me of something I read once in an excellent article about the making of the film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" -- that the New York film reviewers seemed to think the scariest world in the title wasn't chainsaw or massacre but "Texas." :)

Ironic given that movie came out in the 70s, the "Fear City" era of New York.

Man, that article is texas.

As a Swede that has visited Norway probably 60+ times (I've worked for norwegian companies since 2004 - cause oil money) I have noticed they have an affinity to reuse English words for different purposes, sort of like the germans.

I also get the impression that their vocabulary changes quicker than that of most other countries, perhaps due to the small size of the population.

Could be tech-specific, but in the Danish tech industry Norwegians are often found funny for the opposite reason, that they more often invent translated native terms for things where Danes use a loanword. For example a Dane would "download" a file, while a Norwegian would "laste ned" (literally "load down") the file.

Gulebøj. :)

(Banana!)

Any of you fine fellows typing this from your mobility scooters?

Well that we should, if you look at what Texas does to our textbook selection process for the entire US.

(Edit: downvote me all you want, but it's Texas that's enabling intelligent design proponents to inject their nonsense into our science textbooks. Similar factions are using that inroad to whitewash history, as well)

In fairness, there are dozens of other states who would happily do the same, but don't have the single-market pull to manage it.

Yes, in a hypothetical alternate universe where Texas is not Texas, Texas would not have the requisite properties to do what Texas does. You're right, let's be fair.

Anders Breivik was certainly texas.

In Texas, a dude who murdered 77 people would have already faded into the background by now (unless he did it in a memorable way, like Charles Whitman)

Texas has over 5 times the population of Norway and I don't think there's ever been a spree killer there that even got close to Breivik's 75 victims (but I'm happy to be corrected). But it seems likely spree killing is more common in Texas than Norway.

Sentencing him to 21 years in a prison where about $1 million was spent by designers on paintings, photography and light installations, and where authorities hire "friends" so that Breyvik has someone to play hockey and chess with - that seems completely texas to me!

Could you cite your sources? I'd like to know more.

sure: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/9302... and http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1989083_21...

reminds me of Woody Allen's "Bananas", and Goldie Hawn as the detached from reality liberal do-gooder who'd visit a prison and lecture bewildered staff about how she thinks inmates should "decorate their own cells... with their own personal decorators" and so on

even Allen - not exactly a conservative - thought it as a joke back then :) but life surpasses fiction

Re: your second link; Breivik is not in Halden prison - which is pretty fancy, even by our Norwegian standards.

Also; that whole debate about punitive vs. restorative justice, logic and empiricism.

Okay, then he's not - sorry - still that's beyond the point really, I think it's a bit over the top in and of itself

Meanwhile, Texans are not even vaguely aware were "Norwegia" is. (More of a statement as to how important Norway is on the world stage than Texans' geographic knowledge)

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