Our Top Ten Favorite Texas Sayings

Texas Sayings Good Enough to Put on a T-shirt!

I have a lot of great memories from my childhood in West Texas... catching horny toads, summers of dust storms and flash floods, tarantula migrations, and the most beautiful sunsets you've ever seen anywhere. 

But the most colorful thing was the language - the "old timers" especially had a way with words that stayed with me. Here's my Top Ten favorite colorful Texas phrases that you'll probably hear me say (or you might see in our graphic tees).

Number 10: "Weak tea" - When something is just not up to par, especially a poor excuse for something bad you did - "that's some weak tea" 

Number 9: "Dirty pool" - One of those sparse, strong sayings to describe someone who is cheating, not being honest, not playing by the rules. "That's some dirty pool right there." 

Number 8: "Bigger'n Dallas" - How could you have missed it? It's right there, bigger'n Dallas!

Number 7: "As all get out" - This one is more of a... superlative than a phrase. It's the ultimate high bar a Texan can compare something to, similar to "as heck." As in: "He's as funny as all get out" or "This HEB's as busy as all get out" 

Number 6: "Even a blind hog'll find an acorn every once in a while" - This is my father-in-law's favorite way of saying someone just got lucky... as in...  it sure wasn't skill that led to their success.

Number 5: "How the cow ate the cabbage" - This is one of those weird Texas phrases that can best be described using other idioms: It means telling someone what they did wrong, but with a flavor of: Telling someone off, giving them "what-for," reading them the riot act... 

Number 4: "Like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs" - Feeling nervous?  Worried something bad is about to happen? You might feel like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. 

Number 3: "Pretty as a speckled pup" - It means something or someone is VERY cute - like a speckled pup! One day I'll put this one on a cute dog t-shirt!

Number 2: "That dog won't hunt" - We just love bringing dogs into everything in Texas! This one means it's a bad idea or an idea that won't work... As in... you can try, but that dog won't hunt. 

Number 1: "Sorry doesn't feed the bulldog" - A favorite phrase of my high school English teacher who was also the football coach, I love this one so much I put it on a t-shirt! It means your apology is not enough to make up for what you did wrong - you have to DO BETTER. 

Check out our "Sorry Doesn't Feed the Bulldog" T-shirt in Black or as a Retro Ringer