Texafornian?

So I was recently given some advice from a former Texafornian to change my phone number to a local number, and make haste to get a Californian license, so that I would be taken more seriously by employers. Not to be confused as some just off the boat hack, not able to kick it in Cali for permanent. My insurance agent also warned that I could possibly get a ticket if I got pulled over and have not yet updated my identification.

After taking these changes into consideration I began to feel a little protective of my Texan differentiators. Silly as it may seem, I like my phone number, especially because it still ties me to home in some silly way. And my I.D., also, probably silly of me, but I get some sort of weird satisfaction handing it over to a door man, or sales clerk. I smile with pride as they inspect it, like, yeah, that's right, I ride my horse to school...well not really.

I will say though that I've become protective and proud of my Texan roots being here way out West. Even though people seem surprised when I tell them where I'm from, responding with "You're from Texas? But you don't have an accent." My stock reply is "I may not have an accent but I still say y'all." I then proceed to put my six shooter back in it's holster, tip my hat, and mount my horse and ride off into the sunset.

Maybe it was growing up in South Texas near the beach, or having educated well-rounded family members, but I feel that my experience growing up in Texas doesn't contain most of those tried and true stereotypes. Then again, there are definitely some things that happen in Texas that are pretty unique to the state. I decided to make a list and ponder how true and untrue these stereotypes might be.

Texan Stereotypes
1. Riding horses to school (everybody's old favorite)

2. We all wear wranglers, boots, and hats.

3. We all talk lyyyyyke hicks.

4. We're all overly-religious bible beaters.

5. We support George Bush based on the fact that he's considered a Texan.

6. We all drive big gas guzzling trucks.

7. We're all liquor drinking gun-totin' idiots.

8. Everything's bigger here?

What have I missed? Tried to get to 10, but it's late and I couldn't think of any more. Please see the below photo in support of stereotype #7. I took this a few months ago just outside of Schulenburg, TX...