texas accent alert

Today I interviewed a teacher from Lubbock who happened to be in D.C. for a meeting. After we’d been talking on the phone for a while about Texas educational policy, he let this fly: “I can tell we’re on the same wavelength as fellow Texans — I can tell from your accent.”
Anyone who’s met me knows I don’t have a Texan accent. (Hell, I haven’t even lived here two years.) I also don’t have a Southern accent (never did, despite growing up in Louisiana), and the rather thick Cajun accent I once had was long ago banished, only to return as an occasional party trick. If they hazard a guess, most folks think I’m from Nebraska, or Kansas, or some other such flatland.
So of course, my immediate mental response was: “Silly, silly man — you think I’m a Texan? Have you ears, friend?”
And of course, my verbal response was an eager “Sure, sure!” (Gotta keep those interviews going smooth.)