Texas Standard » Stories from Texas

Uncle Dale was the first grownup to come home in the afternoon. He wasn’t our real Uncle – we just called him that. Back then, it was considered rude for a child to call an adult only by their first name, so we had lots of aunts and uncles. Uncle Dale got up when it was […] The post Uncle Dale’s Greatest Gift appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

Every destructive hurricane is remembered in a unique way. Katrina is largely remembered for levees breaking and the paralyzing chaos that followed. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, whose anniversary is in two days, is remembered for a horrific number – 6-thousand. 6-thousand people perished. It was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. I believe […] The post Bass Boat Heroes...

By W. F. Strong I’ve spent a good deal of time over the last couple of years contemplating all things Texas inside of Texas. So I thought I would take a look at Texas OUTSIDE of Texas. There is a lot out there. First, I suspect you’ve heard that in Norway the word “Texas” means […] The post Texas: The Name Heard ‘Round The World appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

The first person to waltz across Texas – okay, waltz is the wrong word (just tipping my hat to Ernest Tubb there). The first European to walk across Texas was Cabeza de Vaca. And he did it barefoot and mostly naked. Why? We shall see. His full name was Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Bet […] The post Cabeza de Vaca: The First Texas Tourist appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcas...

There are thousands of songs about Texas. For example, all the way over in England, Duran-Duran – the British new wave pop group, dropped a top 20 (#14) song called “Rio” back in ’82. And you have “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” and “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “The Road Goes on Forever,” […] The post Top of the Chart Songs about Texas Towns appeared first on KUT &...

As told by W. F. Strong   This story comes under the heading of a Texas classic.  It is folklore. I don’t know for sure that its origin is in Texas, but from the oldest versions I know of, going back 30 plus years, they have Texas linguistic markers.  So I believe there’s a good […] The post Show ‘Em Your Badge appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

The most expensive property currently on the market in Texas is a 2300 acre estate in Lago Vista. It is near Austin, on Lake Travis, going for a mere 68 million. Only 30 thousand an acre. Get out your checkbooks. That’s quite a contrast compared to the deals the first Texans were getting on real […] The post Texas Land Rush appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

Larry McMurtry is, by many standards, Texas’ best writer. He wrote “Horseman, Pass By” to wide acclaim when he was just 25, which became the movie “HUD,” starring Paul Newman. When he was thirty, he published “The Last Picture Show,” which won him even greater critical praise and the movie that followed launched Cybil Shepard’s […] The post McMurtry And Twain appeared first on KUT & KUTX...

I call this commentary “Lingo for Gringos” mostly because it rhymes, but it should really be called “Ten Spanish Words all Texans Should Know.” I’m not talking about the easy words like cerveza, vino, tortilla, taco and baño. And I’m not talking about the common words you say every day that are actually Spanish words – patio, plaza, […] The post Lingo for Gringos: Ten Spanish Words All Anglo...

I’ve been sad lately noticing how the oral tradition seems to be dying. Twenty years ago friends would often come up to me on the street and say, “Hey, I got a story for you.” But now they just come up to me and hold out their phone and say, “Seen this?” And laugh. Not […] The post Three Texas Pride Stories appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

Quanah Parker was the most feared of the Comanche chiefs on the Texas frontier. He was half white and half Comanche. He was taller and stronger and faster and more clever than any other chief of his time. The fact that he never lost a battle to soldiers who relentlessly pursued him … The fact […] The post Quanah Parker: A Mother’s Day Story appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- P...

New York City has held over 200 ticker-tape parades since the first one in 1886, which honored the Statue of Liberty. Lindbergh got a ticker-tape parade for his solo transatlantic flight. Jesse Owens was celebrated for his 4 gold medals with a parade in 1936. Churchill had a blizzard of ticker tape float down on […] The post The One Musician To Get A Ticker Tape Parade Was A Texan appeared f...

There’s more than one Texas bridge that can be especially troubling for those with gephyrophobia – fear of bridges. The Pecos railroad bridge can certainly give you the willies from the right perspective. The Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge can give you pause if you’re hit with the outer bands of a tropical storm when you’re […] The post This Is The Scariest Bridge In Texas appeared first on KU...

In Texas we are mighty big on the word “mighty.” Mighty is used as a ubiquitous adjective. Mighty pretty, mighty ugly, mighty expensive, etc. The word “might” (mighty’s cousin) is popular, too. It is used in place of maybe. Instead of saying, “maybe I can help you Sunday,” we say, “I might be able to […] The post Might Oughta Talk About Texas Grammar appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios...

When Admiral Perry arrived at the North Pole, according to legend, he said, “Must be a cold day in Amarillo!” He was referring of course to the old Texas saying that there is nothing between Amarillo and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence. Amarillo and the Panhandle are not just famous for arctic […] The post Texas Weather is Never Normal appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podca...

This was the situation: the new immigrants to Texas were becoming quite a problem. They were coming across the river in droves. Some were legal and some were undocumented. Some were living on land they had legally acquired and some were squatters, living on land that belonged to others. The legal immigrants were being followed […] The post Anglo Settlers Were Texas’ Original Undocument...

In Texas, we have a lot of towns with cool names. There is actually a town named Cool. And Cut and Shoot. And Valentine. Yes, Valentine. How cool is that? Especially if it’s February. The story goes that a railroad crew, in 1882, had finished laying the tracks to the point where a water and […] The post The How, Where and Why of Valentine, Texas appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Po...

When Tony Romo joined the Dallas Cowboys back in 2003, some people confused his name with that of Tony Roma’s, the restaurant chain. They thought maybe Tony Romo was related to the Tony Roma family, perhaps heir to the baby back ribs fortune, even though there was an important one letter of difference at the […] The post The Weird Connection Between Tony Romo and Tony Roma’s appeared first o...

One of my favorite, but now largely unknown speakers in American history was Robert Green Ingersoll. Redwater, Texas was originally named Ingersoll – after him. He was a philosopher and a popular intellectual, the most sought after orator of his time. He left us many fine proverbs. One of my favorites is this: “The greatest […] The post What It Means to Be a Texas Gentleman appeared first on...

I’m not an expert on many things, but when it comes to judging the quality of Texas literature, or Texana as it is called, I am as confident as a bronc rider still upright at seven seconds. That last second of the eight is reserved for humility. Chance needs scant time to have one spittin’ […] The post Here’s Your Texas-Themed Reading List for 2017 appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios --...

Texas has a great number of Texas brands: Southwest Airlines. Texas Instruments. Lone Star Beer. Dell Computer. Imperial Sugar. The King Ranch. Now, The King Ranch is a brand that came, quite literally, from a brand. King Ranch even has its own brand of Ford Pickup. The King Ranch also helped launch another old Texas […] The post The Story Behind Texas’ Favorite Butter appeared first on KUT...

This is the story of a boy who loved Christmas so much that he grew up to make it more magical for the rest of us. That is, if you have ever had the good fortune to see his paintings – and if you haven’t, I’m here to make sure your luck changes. The artist’s […] The post Jack Sorenson’s Paintings Capture the Simple Joy of Christmas appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

A nice lady wrote to me not long ago and said that she was happy to have a son with a good, solid, two-syllable Texas name. “His name is ‘Ben,’”she wrote. I loved that. We do that, don’t we? Well, many of us do, anyway. There are 30 million Texans so there are many dialects […] The post Trying to Talk Texan? Let Your Words Lean Into Each Other appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -...

When Richard King, the founder of the King Ranch, was on his deathbed, he told his wife, Henrietta Chamberlain King “Don’t let any of that land get away from you.” At the time of his death in 1885, King’s famous ranch consisted of about half a million acres. He had amassed this land on the […] The post The Queen of King Ranch appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts .

My favorite snack as a teenager was a Dr Pepper with salty peanuts. You remember: you pour the peanuts into the Dr Pepper and let them float around and season the drink. Didn’t get much better than that. Dr Pepper is the oldest soft drink in America. Older than Coca-Cola, in fact, by a full […] The post Dr Pepper: The Story of Texas’ Favorite Soft Drink appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studi...