The Wild West reputation of Texas has spread far and wide — so far, in fact, that apparently people in Norway use it as slang for "crazy."
The phrase "helt Texas" or “Det var helt Texas” loosely translates to "totally Texas" or "it was totally Texas." It's used to describe a situation, event, or outcome that was either wild, crazy, or outlandish.
Texas Monthly was able to track down a Tumblr post that explains how the phrase is used in Norway.
A restaurant in Norway called Dolly Dimple's uses the phrase "helt Texas" in a video describing their "crazy" pizza deals. (The phrase can be seen in the background.)
The phrase also appears in a news story of a man catching a rare a swordfish in Norway that was described as being "totally Texas!"
The ode to Texas's reputation as being synonymous with the Wild West is nothing new and appears to have been part of Norway's lexicon for a while.
This Tumblr post gives it all a little more context, reading in part:
The expression itself has to do with associations. It's something that brings to mind chaotic, crazy conditions, like the "wild west," and at least back when the expression was coined, the "wild west" held very strong Texas associations.
Hell, even when I was a kid in the 80s, I thought that all American cowboys came from Texas, and that's just how it was.
Texas the land of the cowboys, and rodeos, and the wild west. A Western movie? Probably from Texas.
So next time you experience something crazy, "Det var helt Texas!" may be the best way to describe it.
