Whatcha Y'all Doin' Down There

Thought Number One:  The Texas Drawl

As a former Texan, I feel justified in asking my Texas friends, ex- neighbors, and those of you that referred to me as a Yankee upon my arrival to your fair state,  "Exactly, what the Hell is goin' on down there?"

The first thing that concerns me or if I am talking Texan,  "chaps my ass" was hearing about an ongoing study that concluded that the Texas drawl is going away.  Part of what makes Texas ...TEXAS, is the slow...ever so slow... pronunciation of the  words such as howdy and y'all.

Wouldn't  Texas be less Texan if the words fire and far weren't  pronounced exactly the same way?  (BTW, they would both be pronounced fharr)  Would life go on as we know it if  the phrase "That dog don't hunt" was said with a Midwestern accent?  OMG, the thought of it makes me more than a little queasy.
 
The University of Texas has been working on this study since 2008. One of the major conclusions from the Texas English Project  is the fact that the  infusion of people that aren't native to Texas, that are now residing there,  are tainting the drawl.

As I was one of the "outsiders" that made my way into Texas, I shouldn't  cast aspersions on those folks diluting  the drawl, but in my defense, at least I had a Southern accent of sorts.  Therefore,  it could be said that the 7 years I lived in Dallas, I did less damage to the "twang" than others are doing. Having spent my youth in the South, I already spoke Southern albeit not one of the dialects that are spoken in Texas.

I did have a certain advantage over others though as I had at least a basic understanding of "Southern". For example: When the locals would say that the neighbors two doors down were just "sorry SOBs", I already knew they didn't mean the neighbors were remorseful, they meant those sorry SOBs were worthless. 

But not all is lost.   According to the study, if you want to hear the true Texas "twang" (and who wouldn't want to hear it?), you could travel to Johnson County or Wise County. In some areas there are still very distinct Texan accents. (meaning it is less tainted by transient speech patterns)

I tried to draw cowboy boots on fair-going Cheryl P. ....turns out I can't draw decent boots.
Obviously My ability to draw must not be Texas friendly.

I hate to see any of  the regional dialects disappear.  You might remember a post that  I did about my own accent, called  Do I Talk Funny? You don't remember it???  Frankly I'm shocked but whatever.... In that post, I talked about the very strong accent that I picked up while living with my grandparents in Arkansas as a kid.  By the time I was twelve and moved North, the damage was done.(at least as far as my undecipherable speech pattern was concerned). The transition to living in Illinois was a tough one. Speaking a language that no one could understand proved to be a challenge.  The truth of the matter, however, is that the people around Chicago, had an accent that I couldn't understand either.  Plus...they talk really fast.

So back to the point of the Texas English Project.  After all is said and done,  the very unique accents that were once prevalent in various regions of the country, are becoming diluted as people have become more transient and national broadcasting has  further influenced speech.  The study did conclude, though, that there will still be regional differences. Those differences may be less and less distinctive.

 

I tend to love the regional accents.  Whether we are talking about the South, East, North or West...I love to hear the distinctive sounds of how people talk. I hope we never come to the point when every one's speech sounds the same.


Thought Number Two:   RIP...For Now

The iconic animated figure known as "Big Tex," which has greeted visitors of the State Fair of Texas for 60 years, was destroyed by fire on Friday.  Yes, the big 52 foot tall, cowboy went down in flames.

Fair representative Sue Gooding said the blaze started inside Big Tex Friday morning on the fairgrounds in South Dallas, ahead of the event's closing weekend.  She said white smoke began billowing from the neck and head area of Big Tex before the flames erupted.

Did people yell "Fharr, Fharr????

"There is definitely electrical in the working of Big Tex … to provide movement of the mouth and head," Gooding said. "It would not surprise me if it did happen – if it did start with electrical."

According to Bill Bragg, who voices Big Tex from a PA system in a nearby trailer, it was "business as usual" before the blaze broke out. "Tex was talking perfectly. A beautiful day at Fair Park. And they knocked on the door and they said, 'There's smoke coming out of Big Tex.' I went out. I investigated. I unplugged all of my equipment in the travel trailer, so I could isolate myself from the statue for safety reasons," Bragg said.

One fair  goer said smoke gave way to fire that quickly engulfed Big Tex. "The flames dropped down and hit his pants, and once they hit his pants, he just went up in flames," the man said.

"Tex went down talking," Bragg said.

The young Big Tex

The Obituary for Big Tex

• 1949 --Erected as a 52-foot-tall "Santa Claus" on Nov. 10th, 1949, in Kerens to bolster the town's Christmas shopping.

• 1950 -- Transported 60 miles to Dallas and sold to the State Fair of Texas for $750.

• 1952 -- Transformed and unveiled as a giant cowboy named "Big Tex" and made its debut in late October as the official symbol of the State Fair of Texas. 

•  1953 -- Speaks for the first time. Over the years, six men have provided the voice for Big Tex, which says "Howdy, folks!" about 60 times a day during the fair.

• 1997 -- Original body was rebuilt on a cage-like frame made of 4,200 feet of steel rods.

• 2000 -- Upgraded with body movements, waving to fair goers as they passed by to the Midway.

• 2002 -- Turns 50, gets an all-new wardrobe and a new voice.

• 2012 -- Destroyed in fire. Fair officials vow to rebuild icon for 2013.

I'll be back!

Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage
Networking between bloggers and to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments

Older, Wiser, Weirder

We all have heard the adage "wisdom comes with age", haven't we?  How about the more subtle quote of Robert Frost, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” ?

There are actually a number of  quotes that support the idea that we gain wisdom as we grow older.

When I can look Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the Truth,
And taken in exchange - my youth.
~Sara Teasdale

So...If I have gotten the gist of all these quotes, when my youth and vitality are shot to hell,  I can cling to the one positive thing that is keeping me afloat and that is that I will be wiser than I was when I was young and had a rockin' body.  HMMMM...I am not sure that is an even trade off.

So in my effort to be coldly wise, I have learned a few new things. I don't suppose there are any adages concerning "great wisdom comes from surfing the net".

One of the things I learned today.

Whales and Waste

I was reading  an article about a boy in England that could be considerably richer thanks to finding a solidified piece of whale vomit he found lying on the beach. While the chunk looks like a yellow-brownish rock, it is, in fact, a valuable piece of ambergris. Ambergris is an expensive ingredient spewed out by whales that is used in perfumes.

Charlie Naysmith found the loaf-sized rock at Hengistbury Head off the the coast of England and after researching his find, his family realized that it could be worth as much as $63,000.

Ambergris is a waxy, bile-like substance that builds up in the intestines of sperm whales, apparently to ease the passage of hard material such as squid beaks through a whale's digestive tract. It's often characterized as whale vomit, and although that's fine as a family-friendly description, the stuff is more widely thought to come out of the whale's back end rather than its front end.
 

The scent of ambergris is what makes it so valuable. The substance has been used as an incense, fragrance, flavoring, remedy or aphrodisiac in many cultures, going back to ancient Egypt and China. Herman Melville devoted a whole chapter of "Moby Dick"  to a discussion of ambergris and how highly prized it was in 19th-century society. "Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale!" Melville wrote.

Fresh ambergris smells like fresh whale poop, but after seasoning and hardening in the ocean it takes on a more delicate odor.  It is sometimes compared to the smell of tobacco or old churches. According to Christopher Kemp, a biologist who has written a book about ambergris called Floating Gold, says "the problem with describing the smell of ambergris is that it really only smells like ambergris."

Well, before you go out and try to find a whale that has left some rather valuable poop on the beach, it is illegal in some parts of the world to sell it due to endangered whale laws.  Charlie is a lucky boy as there are no restrictions in England.

Speaking of Poo

Fort Collins, CO- The maker of Fat Tire beer says it's using a reserve water supply because the water in northern Colorado's Poudre (pronounced POO-der) River has become tainted by the wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of acres in June.

New Belgium Brewery objected when it was told it would soon have to go back to using water from the river.  The company says if that happens, it would kill the flavor of the beer and make it undrinkable.





 So if they go back to getting water from Poudre pronounced  Poo-der River, the beer is going to taste like Sh**.  How appropriate.

 

Winners and Losers

 Atlantic City casino is suing 14 gamblers who raked in more than $1.5 million in winnings after realizing that eight decks of cards had not been preshuffled and kept producing the same sequence of cards, over and over.

The gamblers kept raising their bets -- from $10 a hand to $5,000 -- and scored 41 consecutive winning hands of baccarat in April, the Associated Press reports.

As the payouts mounted, Golden Nugget Atlantic City flooded the area with security teams, convinced that someone was cheating, but were unable to figure out how.

In the end, the casino let nine of the gamblers cash out $558,900. The rest still have $977,800 in chips.

In its lawsuit, the casino cites state gambling regulations requiring all casino games to offer fair odds — to both sides. (really?  Would the casino be griping if the odds had been in their favor?  Seriously??)

The casino's lawsuit argues that the gamblers and the casino both began the game believing it was legal and proper — until the players kept winning repeatedly.

Benjamin Dash, a lawyer for the gamblers, counters that his clients did nothing wrong and deserve to be paid.

"The Golden Nugget appealed to gamblers to come in and play games licensed and sanctioned by the state of New Jersey," he says. "My clients did exactly that, and then were denied their winnings. There is absolutely no law in New Jersey that would permit the Golden Nugget to declare the game illegal because it failed to provide shuffled cards."

The casino also asserts in its lawsuit that Gemaco Inc., a Missouri playing card manufacturer, acknowledged it had provided a defective shipment of cards that were not preshuffled.

Are you wondering what I learned that would make me "coldly wise" from this story? I learned if I ever start winning big at a New Jersey casino, something is wrong...red flags go up...can't happen without a  mistake being made. 

One last story...

There is a Difference Between
Being Wise and Being Crafty

 New Mexico corrections officers say an inmate escaped his jail cell by breaking a window bar with a razor blade and a Popsicle stick but changed his mind once he got outside.

Carlos Garcia told police it took about five months to break the bar on his cell window at the Lea County jail with those materials. He also used plastic, newspaper and more Popsicle sticks to fashion a fake window.

The Hobbs News-Sun reports that Garcia changed his mind and climbed back into his second-story cell using a bed sheet.

"He said that sometimes he does crazy things, and he kind of acted like he didn't know what he had done," Stone said. "But then he admitted to doing it."

Garcia has been moved to a maximum-security ward at the state penitentiary. He is serving time for two murder convictions and other crimes.

Even if I make it to 100...I am not sure that I can make a window out of Popsicle sticks, newspaper, and plastic...at least not good enough to fool corrections officers. When he said he sometimes does crazy stuff, was he referring to the murders, the jail break, or the climbing back in the window after the escape?