Say What?

So, Texas. Like California, a state with a lot of personality.

You can drive a Chevy, you can eat lots and lots of meat, you can shop at H.E.B, but...you're not from around here, are you? No sir, I am not.

Yes, the tattoos—but I could be from Austin. However, I say "awesome" and "dude" to the girl behind the counter of Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken, so I'm probably not.

But that is not my only linguistic giveaway. Thanks to fringe extremists and sensation-driven TV news, most people know that Waco is pronounced WAY-co. Can't get me on that one.

And I've heard plenty of Texans stumble over Mexia, but my mom hipped me to that: Muh-HEY-uh.

And Corsicana, that's an easy one: Coarse-uh-CAN-uh.

But it gets trickier. You might think after seeing Corsicana that Tejuacana was, well, Tay-wuh-CAN-uh. I did. But the ladies at my mom's hairdresser said, No, it's uh...then launched into a discussion of how to say it AND how to spell it. I gave up trying to follow along, but when I later saw the Tejuacana River sign on the highway, I not only knew how to spell it but that it's really pronounced Teh-WHO-kuh-nuh.

Yeah, that's right. Teh-WHO-kuh-nuh.

And it's Palestine, only you pronounce it the other way from the country, so remind me again which way you say the country and which way again you say the town, and we'll be square.

Look who's blending in!