Down in the Skillet & Talkin’ Hoss

In the olden days, the Texas Panhandle was referred to as “down in the skillet“, Llano Estacado or the Staked Plains.

Today, the Texas Panhandle, or simply “the Panhandle”, usually refers to the top 26 counties in the northern most square part of the state.

Good manners still rule. If you pass an oncoming car on a dirt road, you had better wave back, otherwise we know you ain’t from round here. Most everyone drives a pickup truck with four-wheel drive and a tow chain and battery cables.

Believe it or not, you will hear “yes, ma’am” and “no, sir”. Gentleman hold doors open for ladies, and we are not offended by it. Most of us were raised by a strong mother and grandmothers. Women who believe in a strict code of ethics and a mighty God. If one of them tells you, “Bless your heart.” That can be good or very, very bad.

Texas Talk

Texans have a way of cutting consonants and lengthening vowels to speak our mind. Some people may assume we’re ignorant. I think we’re lazy in our talk and very entertaining. For instance, we’ve shortened “you all” to y’all. Rather than converse in a lengthy explanation of our intentions and plans, we simply say, “Hey, y’all. I’m fixin’ to go to town. Need som’um?”

Though the cowboys’ existence is hard and dangerous, it has a wild attraction that strongly draws to it his bold, free spirit.

Theodore Roosevelt

Talking Hoss

Same thing goes for the cowboys and cattlemen. There is a simple way of speaking your mind and there are few story tellers equal to a group of cowboys gathered around talkin’ hoss. I heard a cowboy mention that his horse was smoked, which means the horse had already been ridden hard that day and needed to rest. The cowboy would have to find a fresh horse for the next day of work. After a busy, hot morning of working cattle, he said that he was “fixin’ to shade-up for the afternoon”. One simple word can say a lot.

Tomorrow comes to us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives, and it puts itself in our hands and hopes we’ve learnt something from yesterday.

John Wayne

Cowboy Wisdom

Cowboy: The chief qualifications of efficiency in this calling are courage, alertness, endurance, horsemanship, and skill in the use of a lariat.

Joseph Nimmo, Jr.

There was only two things the old-time cowpunchers were afraid of: a decent woman and being set afoot.

“Teddy Blue” Abbott

Cowboy Slang Reference

These witty and colorful catch phrases are interesting to me as a western author, and I try to sprinkle a few throughout my stories. I’ve discovered several helpful reference books, in case you have a hankering to read more about the lingo of the great American west.

COWBOY LINGO by Ramon F. Adams, is a collection of “slack-jaw words and whangdoodle ways” (Houghton Mifflin Company).

WESTERN WORDS, by Ramon F. Adams, A dictionary of the Old West (Hippocrene Books, New York).

COWBOY SLANG  “Colorful Cowboy Sayings” by Edgar R. “Frosty” Potter (Golden West Pub).

Natalie Cline Bright is a blogger, speaker, writing instructor and author of 25 books for adults and kids. If you enjoy pictures from the Texas Panhandle, check out her Instagram account @natsgrams or Facebook page Natalie Cline Bright. Her books can be found wherever fine books are sold. Support your local independent book store!