This is a busy time of year for our tourist destination hometown. I’m getting pretty good at guessing where visitors are from just by watching and listening. Wisconsin and Boston are the most distinctive and I guess Arkansans are easy for me to recognize because they speak my native tongue. Actually, some consider Arkansas to have a language of it’s own.

You can tell a Texan by the talk, but they also drive big vehicles. I’ve often wondered if it’s because they do everything big in Texas or if they have secret oil reserves no one knows about.

Years ago my friend Darnell and three of her Texas girlfriends were in New York City having dinner at a lovely upscale restaurant, the kind with no prices on the menu and leftovers are packaged in fancy foil swans. About half way through the main course a nice looking man in a suit came over to their table and said, “Excuse me ladies. I have a question if you don’t mind. My friends and I have a bet.”

“Well, sure,” one of Darnell’s friends answered.

“Are you girls from Texas,” the man asked in his thick New York accent?

Darnell grinned and said, “We sure are. Is our Texas drawl that obvious?”

“I knew it! I bet my friend $50.00 your were from Texas, not from listening to talk, but watching you eat. You all are sampling off each other’s plates, a little taste here and a little taste there. The only place I’ve seen people do that is in Texas. Thanks for winning me fifty dollars and enjoy your meal.”

When the girls finished dinner off their own plates and left the restaurant with their shiny doggy bags, they decided that New Yorkers may know how to eat properly but probably don’t have near as much fun as Texans.