Episode 75: New England, and a Color Scientists Can't Fully Explain

[00:00:00] Welcome to English, please, the podcast where we explore interesting topics in under 10 minutes in clear, intermediate English. I’m your host, Christopher. I live in New York City, and I’ve always been passionate about languages and how we learn them. Whether you’re listening on your way to work or while cooking dinner at home, this show is designed to help you with your English listening and comprehension skills.

Before we start, something free is waiting for you. Head to comullen.com/free for two guides built specifically for intermediate learners: 25 Everyday Idioms and 60 Common English Phrases. Both are yours at no cost whenever you [00:01:00] want them.

In this episode, we’re going to talk about a single U.S. state and something you may have noticed yourself. Some American symbols show up everywhere, and they’re easy to explain. They’re famous, and people understand them. But there’s one symbol you’ll see all the time all over the world, and it’s hard to understand at first. The flag of a single U.S. state. Not California. Not New York. Texas. On T-shirts, on hats, on bags, in cities that have nothing to do with Texas at all. I’ve seen it myself more than once, somewhere far from Texas, and every time I’ve wondered the same thing. Why this state specifically?

The answer [00:02:00] starts with a piece of history that most people outside of the United States don’t know. Texas wasn’t always part of the U.S.. From 1836 to 1845, it was its own independent nation, with its own president, its own army, and its own flag. That’s nine years as a separate country before it joined the United States. No other state has that history. And in Texas, this isn’t just something you see in a history book. Most people there are still proud of it today.

You can actually see that pride show up in surprising places. Let’s look at electricity, for example. Every US state shares power with its neighbors through one of two regional power [00:03:00] systems. So if one state has a problem, it can get power from nearby states. Texas is the only state in the country with its own separate system, disconnected from all other states. That was a deliberate choice. Texas didn’t want to follow the federal rules that would come with joining the national system. Most of the time, this works fine.

But in February 2021, for example, a massive winter storm hit Texas. Because the state’s power system is separate from the rest of the country, Texas couldn’t get emergency power from outside. Millions of people lost electricity and heat for several days in freezing temperatures. Some people even died. It’s a clear example of the price of [00:04:00] independence when something goes wrong.

That same attitude shows up in smaller, funnier ways as well. You’ve probably seen the phrase, “Don’t mess with Texas,” on T-shirts. People usually say it like a warning with a lot of confidence. Here’s the twist: it wasn’t originally about pride or toughness at all. It started in 1985 as an anti-littering campaign, a slogan that asked drivers not to throw garbage out of their car windows. At some point, a message about not throwing garbage out the window turned into one of the most recognized state slogans in the United States, and maybe in the world. And most people wearing the slogan on a shirt today have no idea that it started as a simple request to use a [00:05:00] garbage can.

So is that why Texas ends up on so many T-shirts all over the world? Maybe it’s the history, a state that was once its own country and never quite let go of that identity. Maybe it’s the power grid still standing apart from the rest of the United States, for better and for worse. Or maybe it’s just that a slogan about not littering somehow became something people wear with pride.

If today’s episode felt useful and you’d like more structured practice, that’s exactly what the English, please Accelerator is built around. You listen first, try to understand the English on your own, and then check yourself against the transcript afterward. You can find it at comullen.com/listen. And if you haven’t already, two free guides are waiting for you at [00:06:00] comullen.com/free. 25 Everyday Idioms and 60 Common English phrases, and they’re both written specifically for intermediate learners.

Again, I’m Christopher, and I want to invite you to join me in future episodes of English, please to hear about a variety of topics, all focused on helping you with your English. Subscribe now wherever you listen, and let’s continue this adventure together in clear, understandable English.

Sincere thanks, as always, for listening.

See you soon.