Cool by proclamation?

Texans seem to have a thing about their image and evidently are not humble by nature. We folks from the midwest tend to be more reserved.

I do find the self promotion to be a bit annoying. Everything is not necessarily bigger and better in Texas. Take a look at the image below. This is officially "The big tree". It is a coastal live oak and is thought to be 1000 years old. Texans may not travel much because most folks on the west coast would immediately question whether this tree is, in fact, large. If you have visited Muir Woods or several similar areas along the west coast, you have likely had the opportunity to view far larger trees. The "Big Tree" is large only in contrast to the other trees in Texas and to other live oaks. The sign might be corrected to indicate that this is a "Big Live Oak". I make no disparaging comment regarding the age of the "Big Tree". A thousand years is definitely a long time whether a given tree is the record holder or not.

I kind of place the Texans who warn us all "not to mess with Texas" (home of the Pretty Big Tree) in the same category as the college football players who have learned to use the article "the" to emphasize something - e.g., THE Ohio State in contrast to the Ohio State. Athletes should be proud of their institutions and I guess it is true that Ohio State University is the only Ohio State University, but this is hardly unique as many states have one state university. If more than this is implied, the athletes from Ohio share the same lack of experience as the big tree fans from Texas.

[Rockport, TX]