Sadly it is true. Being from Texas, I have been asked when I went to Indiana and later New England some '''incredibly''' stupid questions. "So did you sell your horse when you moved here?", "Do all those tumbleweeds get annoying?", and my personal favorite, "So this school with more than one room is a real change huh?". for those of you out there, let's clarify. A). Texas is modern in almost everything, although our public transportation sucks outside of Austin. A lot of people do drive trucks, but just as many as drive SUV's. B). There's not a desert, except in some of West Texas. What you mostly get is hot grasslands, or more often now, subdivisions. C). Most Texans do not have an extremely noticeable accent. National broadcast T.V. has drastically reduced the strength of accents nationwide. Plano is a notable exception, even to Texans. Even the staple "Y'all" is used much less than you would think. The only really noticeable thing is that pin and pen (and aunt and ant) are pronounced the same, and the verb to chuck is to chunk. Some other stuff, but I'm getting off my soapbox now.

That's a shame. I ''like'' "y'all"--it's useful to have a second-person plural that's different from the second-person singular.

Except, as any true native of the South will tell you, "y'all" is actually second-person ''singular''. The plural form is "all y'all".

No, it's shorthand for "you all." It's the English equivalent of vous (French), vosotros (Spain-Spanish--yes, there is a difference), or ustedes (Mexico-Spanish). Texas is just weird and squishes it together, you all.

(* After finding his own soapbox and getting on it.* ) That's the thing. Y'all is used informally as the second-person plural with you all being the formal form. On top of that, there are five recorded dialects of English in Texas, as well as an almost extinct dialect of German originating from the Hill Country's German settlements and a dialect and pidgin of Spanish. Trucks tend to last longer then cars for long distance wear and can carry a large amount of stuff in the bed, which is pretty useful when you need to move something. Most communities outside of the major cities are too small to warrant a public transportation system, and the soil for most of Texas is too unstable for a subway/rail system that doesn't crumble or corrode within the space of 25 years. That's also the reason why the roads have to be rebuilt about once every 5-10 years. Also, tornadoes are not the natural disaster which causes the most damage around here, its hurricanes and tropical storms.

And any time it snows a quarter-inch, the whole state shuts down.

It's not so much snow that shuts a lot of the state down, but freezing rain. Warm air currents from the Gulf of Mexico turn snow into rain as it falls and when that rain reaches the freezing temperatures near the ground it ices everything up, especially the roads. These skating-rink conditions cause accidents and school/work closures in weather that would otherwise make harmless light snowfall in other states, which is what typically causes parts of the state to "shut down" in the winter.

Because rain should be wet, not frozen. Also the majority of things in Texas are purchased with 95F+ weather in mind, so we don't have frozen weather gear like thick jackets and tire chains wandering as common items.

And people here barely know how to drive on rain, so when the rain is frozen, that makes an already bad thing worse.

Not true! It snows in some of the northern parts. Also the whole big people thing might come from the cattle industry. If this troper recalls correctly, red meat increases physical size. Ground beef is generally the cheapest meat available not on the coast (then it tends to be fish for obvious reasons). An as mentioned about the whole subway thing, subways and hurricanes/floods don't mix well. Don't forget the lottery either, for every dollar you spend, schools get a quarter.

And the mid-North. Arlington got a White Christmas in 2009.

This Troper fully supports people thinking this due to the humour of it all. I was born and raised in Houston, Tx and I went to school in the "Big City" of New York City and pretty much everyone asked me where my accent was, if we rode horses, if I had a ranch, what about my lack of cowboy gear, how much oil is on my families land, etc. Answers: We hide the accent outside of Texas (then everything in a faux cowboy talk), yes we rode horses, usually to the cattle market, yes I have a ranch and I know the difference between bulls and steers and I can make ya a steer if ya want, I miss the normal way that we Texans dress, hate the way you foreigners dress, and more oil than y'all can shake a stick at. I then asked them when they were going to cuss at me, flip me off, take my wallet, bump into me instead of walking around me, when I'll get to ride in a smelly cab, and fall for the three card monte trick.

This Troper has had people doubt her when she says she's from Texas, even though she has never lived anywhere else. In fact, the only trace of a true "Texan" accent she has is in her "a"s, as in "accent".

This (other) Troper, who is (Dallas)Texas-born and raised, is always asked in Florida (for vacation)... "are you from Britain or Australia?" Yeah. My mom '''is''' from Ireland though...

The accent that most people think of as a "Texas" accent is mostly confined to East Texas. My cousins are from East Texas, and they sound very much like the stereotype. My wife and I are from South Texas, and we have very little accent at all.

You only think you don't have an accent. It's all a matter of perspective, really. Especially when one's specific dialect/accent doesn't impede the expression of complex ideas and emotions to other speakers with a similar dialect/accent.

This troper is also from Plano, but has never really noticed the accent, although she's been told she has a little bit of one. She will readily admit that she has several relatives from all over the state who speak with very strong accents.

This troper has met someone who fits the stereotype perfectly, but he isn't sure if they were joking or not. He was on a trip to Texas for vacation (during the summer, BAD IDEA) from Canada. The lady at the customs counter asked us what an 'Ontario' was and in the conversation that developed refused to acknowledge that there was anything bigger then Texas. Again, this troper isn't sure if that was a joke or not, but apparently she continued it with half the people in the line behind us.

This native-born Texan troper would like to point out that the summers in Texas aren't all ''that'' bad.

This native Texan would like to point out that they aren't all that bad-- to US. 115 degree highs in the summer aren't exactly nice to Canadians or Californians.

Wait, which Californians were you talking to? Because it easily would hit 120 where I used to live in CA.

And this native Texan wishes to point out that it's not fun for us either. Having to stand in front of the freezer after just getting the mail gets old real fast.

This Texan Troper had the interesting experience of meeting other Texans while on vacation outside the state. I was coincidentally wearing a shirt that identified me as being from the (very cosmopolitan) city of Fort Worth, and was picked out on a tour by a older couple who brought this trope to life. The camera-toting husband wore an enormous rodeo belt over his equally enormous beergut, the wife wore Texas-trademark Big Hair, and both spoke in that almost cartoonishly Texan Plano accent. After noting that I was also from Texas, the husband quipped, "y'all don't sound like yer from Texas."

The farther north/east you get, the crazier and more Texan the people tend to be. And the ''accents!''

You wouldn't believe the questions I've gotten from people from other states and countries upon learning I'm from Texas. No, I've never fired a gun or owned a cowboy hat, yes, we have grocery stores, no I don't ride a horse to work (my previous and ''only'' horse-riding experience in fact, being at a petting zoo when I was five), and yes, our schools have more than ''one room''. The questions usually enter an entirely different ballpark however, when I mention I live in Austin. No, I don't smoke pot, am not a "hippie", and I don't vote Democrat. I do love live music, though.

I have in-laws that live in Dallas that I've visited. Too many big strip malls, too bloody hot, and seems like the Southern Baptist Mafia runs everything outside the city. On the other hand, the highway system is excellent, the BBQ really is the best I've ever had, and I've found that I do look good in a cowboy hat.

I've seen it averted, subverted, and played straight. It's only played straight with my FFA buddies who have it all (accent, clothing, etc.), subverted with friends (who play up the stereotypes for laughs), and averted (I'm from Texas, but everyone's normal))

An inversion here. This troper, who is from New York, always enjoyed the show KingOfTheHill, thinking of it simply as a farcical comedy where stereotypes were exaggerated for comedic effect. His dismayed room mate from Austin informed him that no, it was apparently quite accurate.

I have a question. Maybe it's a stupid question. Maybe it's just me. But here it goes. Which part of Texas is the "panhandle" exactly? Looking at a map of Texas, there isn't a single part that looks anything like the handle of a pan. A little help? Thanks.

Pull up a picture of the state. See that square-edged bit that's furthest north? That's the panhandle; roughly defined by the two 90 degree angles on it's Western and Eastern borders. It "looks like" the handle of a pan much in the same way Florida looks like a pistol and Louisiana looks like a boot/shoe/foot. As in, only if you really squint your eyes and use your imagination.

Some Trivia:

Fort Worth is apparently nicknamed "Cow Town." You can bet only the people who ''give a crap'' about it being called Cow Town know it is called Cow Town.

Yes, we do have cows. I've got cows coming out my ears!...10 miles away.

Steerhorns. If someone has an enlarged (steer aren't that big) steerhorn--a ''real'' one--on their wall, stay away from them, because they are every Texas trope codified. Except for one time where he had steerhorn and a lamp made out of antlers and an elk skull on his wall, just didn't have the accent.

Snakeskin boots. Cowboy hats. Very non-functional for the heat; nobody wears them unless they're a stereotype, or they're at a rodeo. Which we have.

Texas Roadhouse will kill you.

But the state fair is even ''worse.'' Ever hear of fried butter? Yeah, that's us.

There's also apparently a contest for (I quote) "rich cowboys" to see who can round up cows the fastest.

So to reiterate, yes, a lot of the stereotypes unfortunately hold true. But that's a small (Texas' concept of "small" is...odd) part of it, and there's normal people close. It's still a red state, though, so (most) everyone's conservative about something. Except for Austin. That place is just weird.

This troper is a Texan, and he only got to be 5'5" and 4" in the pecker.

My mom's side of the family is from Dallas, Houstan, and Orange Texas so we go there sometimes. We went to a restaurant and she ordered a small iced tea. They gave her a freaking bucket of iced tea, I shit you not.

Warning though, if its only a small glass, it will have enough sugar to turn you diabetic. It's hard for this West Texas boy to find some unsweetened tea at restaurants...

This troper once had a cousin who inverted/deconstructed this trope. He lives in southern Texas, close to the Mexican border. One time, we had a HUGE barbecue on his land (he owns an insane amount of land), including a whole roasted pig. At the barbecue, after getting quite drunk, he and another cousin of mine (who was visiting from out of country) got dressed in the most insane cowboy outfit. It had sequins! Thing is? Both of my cousins are from Bolivia, and my cousin with the land recently immigrated to the US, and that was why we had a huge barbecue.

I have met a guy from Texas, and according to him, yes, everything IS bigger in Texas!

Texas weather is kind of insane. Summers are certainly bigger than anything else. It's not really unreasonably to say that Texas has 2 seasons, Winter and Summer. Wearing shorts on Christmas is a fairly common occurrence.

Texas is also not as super conservative as people might paint it. A fair number of the population lives in big cities and metropolitan areas like Houston, Austin, Dallas / Fort Worth, and so on, and tend to vote for Democrats. As Texas's cities continue to swell, it's not inconceivable that in 10 years time the state may elect a Democratic Governor. That is, if Perry ever leaves office.