Texas Just Showed The World Why It’s, uhm, texas. And The Pundits Are Pissed

And all it took was the Governor’s pen

4 min readMar 3, 2021

“‘Det var helt texas!’ (That was very completelytotally texas!).” Norwegian saying

Not too long ago, a Norwegian fisherman had this epic battle with a rare fish. A type of swordfish, the article read. As the story unfolds, the fisherman gets excited as he pseudo re-enacts the boat-borne battle to the reporter. In the end, when he hauls his catch into the rig, he says…” it was totally texas!!”

The same thing happened when Norwegian police chief Knut Danielsen described a reckless car chase, with long-haul truck drivers involved, somewhere in the south of Norway. In the interview after the hunt, he stated that the event “was absolutely texas!”

As I read these, and likely as you read these now, you’re inner grammar police may be emerging because I did not capitalize the “T” in t(T)exas, and that I most certainly used the Lone Star State in the wrong context.

Blasphemy!

Right?

Weeeeell not so fast partner.

Now here’s the thing.

I’m a Texan, and I’m currently living in Norway, coming up to almost a year now. If I hadn’t read these articles or heard this firsthand from my Norwegian buddies, I probably would think they were yanking my spurs.

You know, because in Texas we all wear spurs and ride horses.

But I digress…

The truth is, when the word “texas” is used as an adjective here, most often not capitalized, it’s usually referring to something chaotic, exciting, crazy, or out of control.

At least here in Norway it does.

Back home, in Texas, we just call it life.

That’s why when Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas was opening for business 100% in just a few days from now, and no more mask mandates, I received a flurry of Insta messages and Facebook DM’s from my Norwegian pals saying…