In Defense of Belt Buckles
Yes, I wear a large belt buckle. I bought it from a seller on eBay for eight dollars. It's pewter and has a cast picture of a grizzly bear on it. The belt that it is attached to has lasted longer than any other belt I've owned, except for a hunk of green canvas that was part of my Boy Scout uniform years ago.
My Texanism has grown more and more militant the longer I've been away from it. Yes, I'm proud of being a Texan. It's the only real piece of heritage that I can claim, being descended from a long line of western European mutts, and this piece of bling is one way to express it. I offer no apologies for my belt buckle--it's served me well and continues to hold my pants up day by day.
posted by jimbo @ 8:16 AM
3 Comments:
Perhaps I was not clear enough about the size of the belt buckle. When I said "Texas-sized", I meant that it was a buckle of unusual size, not that it was as big as Texas (which would give Jim some very strong leg muscles), in contrast to the big-as-your-face burritos at Chuy's, which really are. It is a large belt buckle, but it is not obnoxious or overly shiny. Neither does it feature a tractor. And it really does make the boots look right. I choose to think of it as spreading cultural diversity, so that Northeasterners can experience Texas; as since the Texan has agreed that other states may indeed be nice places to live and aren't entirely populated with losers, I support the belt buckle's support of his pants.
A friend at work gave me a belt buckle the other day that he apparently found in his basement. It says "Todd" on it, which is appropriate, since that's my name. Unfortunately, I don't own any buckle-ready belts right now, so I continue to wear my regular leather belt, which has a buckle that is, at best, Connecticut-sized. But even though I may not own a buckle as large as my home state of Texas, I do know that you'd better not call a buckle "Texas-sized" unless you can eat a burger on it, and if you think a Burger King burger counts, then you clearly don't understand the concept of "Texas-sized" in the first place. In my own defense, though, I did own several different bolo ties and belt buckles when I was a kid, and I wore them all. Now, all I have are two cowboy hats to indicate my heritage. I am proud to say that both cowboy hats are exceedingly large, as I have a large head. When shopping for the first hat, after having visited several Western-wear stores, I was forced to go to the Western-wear outlet store, where I bought the largest hat they had, and had them steam it so it would fit my Texas-sized noggin.
All that said, I've been meaning to ask you, "Jim": do I know you? Because you link to my Web page and refer to my by my first name. But I know more than one Jim, and can't tell which, if any, of them you are.
Todd--
Not really. I know of you, mostly via your Twinkie Project fame and that I think we were both at Rice around the same time. I link to your site because of those reasons and because I like your writing a lot. It's always either insightful, funny, or both.
I don't use full names on my site when I can avoid it, so if you really want to know who I am, dig out a Rice meat sheet from the class of 2000, and look at Brown College in the O's. My picture is not flattering.
Post a Comment
<< Home