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> Maybe it's a rural Texas thing? Not really. Maybe for the author. Living a long time in rural Texas (now urban), I can say that someone might have a propensi
by kodablah 9y ago
> Maybe it's a rural Texas thing?
Not really. Maybe for the author. Living a long time in rural Texas (now urban), I can say that someone might have a propensity to use over and out for specific directions, but in my experience they are interchangeable and it's not a universal truth. Granted there are no universal truths about Texas/Texans so when you hear one, discount it. And you are right that up and down as cardinal directions doesn't feel uniquely Texan but can't tell when only on the inside.
In the seemingly endless rush to satisfy Texan exceptionalism, dialect and slang are among the traits that are always held up as unique. Yet every region has their own.
- WillAbides 9y agoThis brings back a memory of a conversation with my grandfather. We were in Midland, and I said something about heading over to Odessa. He made a disparaging remark about my intelligence and said we would have to head out to Odessa from there. That never made any sense to me until now.
- lotyrin 9y agoRaised as a rural Oregonian with great grandparents from Arkansas here, north = up and south = down is pretty solid in my vernacular, though sometimes elevation will override latitude and we'll go "up" to somewhere slightly south. We mostly go "over" to places without a large elevation or latitude change, but there is some use of "out" but never to cardinal directions, only to imply change in population density or degree of settlement. If you're in town, you might be "headed out" to a campground, just as you might "head in" to town afterward, if you're in the city you'd head "out" to a smaller town.