The Texanist: How Do You Pronounce All Those Weird Texas Town Names?
A Dallas man is flummoxed by Quitaque. And Danevang, and Jiba, and Study Butte, and Zuehl . . .
A Temple native, David Courtney is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He joined Texas Monthly in October 2005 and in July 2007 debuted his wildly popular advice column, the Texanist, regularly the magazine’s most-read feature.
In 2017, the University of Texas Press published The Texanist: Fine Advice on Living in Texas, and in 2019, Fox Entertainment optioned the column with plans to develop a television show based on it. As the Texanist and as himself, Courtney has contributed his talents to such endeavors as the annual Bum Steer Awards, the quinquennial review of the fifty best barbecue joints in Texas, “The 50 Greatest Hamburgers in Texas,” “The 40 Best Small-Town Cafes,” and “Snap Judgment,” a compilation of the ten greatest plays in Texas college football, as well as “The Beachcomber,” for which he walked the entire 65-mile length of Padre Island National Seashore, and “Water, Water Everywhere,” for which he swam buck naked in Lake Travis, outside of Austin.
A Dallas man is flummoxed by Quitaque. And Danevang, and Jiba, and Study Butte, and Zuehl . . .
As the state started shutting down, one man took to the coast in search of a different kind of solitude. And seashells.
A Boerne woman wonders if other Americans are as smitten as we are with the outlines of their states.
A West Texas man seems to be tired of living on Mountain Standard Time.
How to handle the zit-sized pustule that those evil little @$*!%*#@%&!s leave behind.
Raise a Pearl beer to our ten greatest college football plays. Ever.
An Austin man ponders the unthinkable.
The recent, terrifying events in Washington have an Austin man wondering about mayhem closer to home.
A New York man wants to know everything there is to know about Texas toast.
A Brenham man wonders why, in contravention of common custom, those Stetsons never seem to get doffed.
Easy to love, if hard to wrap, these Lone Star State–shaped presents will please even the most discerning Texan.
Hunters in Texas kill a lot of white-tailed deer each year. What would happen if they didn’t kill any at all?
In lieu of fall foliage and chilly weather, at least we get to turn back the clocks.
A Texan exiled in Arkansas is baffled by the misnaming of this beloved, meaty treat on a stick.
Beans in chili, the Houston Oilers, and mutton busting: test your knowledge of all things Texan.
The State Fair kicks off today. We celebrated by checking in with the big man himself.
A New York man wants to know the best place to live in Texas, weather-wise, and an Austin man asks for some cold-treat recommendations.
From arid El Paso to the Piney Woods, Texas boasts outstanding links that don’t require an expensive membership.
The California parent of a UT freshman wonders about Bevo’s ultimate fate when the final whistle blows.
. . . When it comes to producing renewable energy, winning golf tournaments, banning books, and closing rural hospitals. Why is Texas so darn great . . . and so darn awful?
A Plano woman wonders why so many small towns have so many big guns.
Guests-only libraries and themed bars beckon lovers of the written word to these three Texas hotels.
It’s time to find out just how much you know about the Lone Star State.
A Weatherford man says we need to channel our penchant for lying into something productive—or at least entertaining.
An Austin man wants to know whether Austin’s Scholz Garten or San Antonio’s Menger Bar can claim the title of oldest continually operating bar in the state.
A New Mexico resident is puzzled by all the female Jimmies and Johnnies.
Author John Phillip Santos’s 2010 “Tejano elegy” explores family secrets that reveal “the deepest mysteries of being human.”
Are you ready to test your knowledge of all things Texan?
Plus, somebody slapped an H-E-B employee and nobody opened a satanic-themed hotel in Plano.
Sarah Wilson's ‘DIG’ combines photos, her grandfather’s Kodachrome teaching slides, and creatively staged paleontological artifacts.
A Port Arthur resident wants to know what’s wrong with “BBQ*GNG” and “EAT@TACO.”
Plus, a man stole tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo and creepy-looking snapper eels turned up near Port Bolivar.
The author of Goodbye to a River and two-time National Book Award finalist helped create the magazine’s Country Notes column.
The magazine’s back-page columnist explains the subtle shifts in his “Fine Advice and Keen Observations,” from 2007 through today.
A San Antonio man is puzzled by a historical marker he encountered while visiting the Pine Tree State.
Some tasty lab-grown barbecue and a Dallas Cowboys postseason appearance may be in our distant future.
We still love our Shiner, Pearl, and Lone Star, but our options are now bubbling over, thanks to hundreds of craft breweries across the state.
A Johnson City man is worried that life is starting to resemble Elmer Kelton’s ‘The Time It Never Rained’ once again.
A Plano man wonders how the likes of Bob Dylan, Sarah Palin, and John Wayne qualified for this prestigious designation.
A Lubbock woman isn’t sure the state’s wildly successful vineyards fit with our Wild West image.
Two Texas Monthly writers go head-to-head on the merits and inferiorities of tacos made with crispy shells vs. soft tortillas.
By David Courtney and Michael Hall
An Amarillo man is unhappy that the iconic banners no longer fly in front of the Texas Travel Information Centers.
A Fredericksburg man wonders how Willie Nelson ever prevailed in a state that brought us Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
A Lone Star State native living in Chicago insists that only small pastry squares filled with cooked fruit deserve that name.
A Houston woman is miffed by her boyfriend’s reaction to a thoughtful gift.
An Austin man wonders if the people who stand behind a counter and take our orders deserve the same remuneration as the waiters and waitresses of the world.
My dream of navigating through Big Bend’s stunning canyons finally came true. I just had to start a little farther downstream.
Moviegoers have returned to theaters in droves to see the long-awaited sequel—and we have Texas to thank.
An Austinite living in Washington, D.C., worries about the consequences of sporting pricey designer footwear.
A San Antonio man wonders how Sun City got its other nickname and learns about the nicknames of many other Texas cities.
A New Braunfels man isn’t quite sure that he has a firm grasp on this fundamental aspect of Texas rural life.
A pair of Texas Monthly writers chronicle an emerging scene that would end up defining a city and changing American music forever.
As it turns out, even the best films and TV shows about the Lone Star State have their share of gaffes. (Yes, even ‘Lonesome Dove.’)
A transplant from California wades into an age-old culinary debate.
A Fort Worth woman wants to know why we honor the bluebonnet and the pecan tree, but not the strudel or the sopaipilla.
An El Paso woman is looking for the finest example of Lone Star holiday musical jollity. But can there only be one?
A longtime San Antonio resident is thrilled—but puzzled—by the presence of monk parakeets in her hometown.
An Arlington man wonders if his penny-wise buddy is being barbecue-foolish.
A conversation with the big guy himself.