Please Don't Mess With Texas

There are certain assumptions we all make, big or small. Across the country people joke about southern accents, cowboy hats in certain parts of the country, cities where people are supposedly rude, or places like the Hamptons.

Now before this trip I have never been anywhere in the southern half of the country. Texas is far removed from Michigan, a pretty long ways away. However, that doesn’t mean we aren’t familiar with the saying, “Don’t mess with Texas.” At least in the North when we would hear that we would think things like, “Texans think they’re so tough, just because they’re the 2nd biggest state.” Everyone I knew responded to it thinking that Texas was cocky and egocentric. However… I had no idea.

“Don’t mess with Texas,” is actually referring to an anti-littering advertising campaign by the Texas Department of Transportation. The state-wide campaign began in 1984 and is a federally registered trademark.

As one of the most famous advertising slogans of all time I should have known this, but I didn’t. Meredith, who is also from Michigan and has an advertising degree, thought the same thing before meeting her husband Larry, who told her what it was really for. There is still a lot of state pride in Texas however, more so then any other state I’ve been to, so sometimes maybe Texans just don’t want to give up that misperception of the slogan. In fact, it is engraved on the USS Texas submarine, so you wouldn’t think that has too much to do with anti-littering.

But hey, for everyone in Texas I’ve got your back. I’m trying to let everyone else know that it’s about keeping Texas clean, picking up your trash and not littering. I used to say I would mess with them Texans, but now that I know what it means, no way, not gonna do it.

So folks, please don’t mess with Texas, or anywhere else, keep this world clean.