Why I Heart Texas, Too

I was just reading an article out of my Texas Monthly (a gift from ihearttexas!) that mentioned something about San Jacinto (brief history lesson: this is the site where Texas won it's independence from Mexico on April 21, 1836, three weeks after defeat at the Alamo). This reminded me of how Texans pronounce San Jacinto - not the Spanish way. It is pronounced with an English "j" - as in Jennifer. I loved that when I lived there! I loved how many words around Austin (and Austin is the LIBERAL town in Texas) were not prounounced "properly." Like Guadalupe St., a main drag that runs through the UT campus - it's "guad uh loop" in Texas, instead of the Spanish "guad uh lu peh." There's also Bexar County - pronounced "bear." This one's a little less politically incorrect as "bexar" in Spanish would be pronounced "bejar" and that pronunciation is barely different than "bear." It's just that in Texas you sort of imagine that the folks there see a big old grizzley when they pronounce Bexar. :] And then there is the mysterious, though maybe not politically incorrect or not pronunciation of the street named Manchaca. In Austin it was always pronounced without the last "a." Just "man shack."

At the end of the aforementioned Texas Monthly article, the author abbreviated San Jacinto in reference to a historical figure who fought in the battle, calling him a San Jac vet. I've never heard this term before, but my bet is on the pronunciation being "San Jack."

Yeah! Remember the Alamo, baby!