this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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I know the saying is "don't mess with Texas" but Texas seems to fuck itself over all the time. I would be raising hell about this if it was my backyard.
That's kind of but not exactly a mistranslation. The original Chinese is closer to 'do not interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake', but in the american vernacular, you can just say 'don't mess with Texas' and it means the same thing locally. Its one of those very regional sayings.
Pretty sure "Don't mess with Texas" began its life as an anti-littering campaign in the late 80s or early 90s. It has been appropriated to mean all sorts of things, though. The original meaning might be even more relevant to data centers...
No, the EPA just appropriated sun tzu.
I mean... I guess it could mean that now, but that is certainly not what it meant originally or how it was ever used.
Oh, you speak Chinese?
In the most Peggy Hill way possible.
Is "don't mess with Texas" Chinese?
I just said its a translation. Yes. From sun tzu I think. In england they translate it the other way I said here.
Except the actual phrase didn't originate from whatever Chinese saying you're talking about. It was an anti-littering campaign, from Texas, in the 1980s.
No, its from translating 'the art of war' into an american dialect. EPA just appropriated it.
You got evidence to back that up? Especially since the EPA had nothing to do with the ad campaign?
Yes, but it would be very personally identifying.
This has nothing to do with any translation of any language, it's a US English expression.
It is a joke.
They are intimating that texas makes so many mistakes that "Don't mess with texas" may be a blowhard boast to texans, but to everyone else it means "just let the idiots wreck themselves"
Also that 'Texas' is synonymous with 'enemy' for all Americans.
Still has nothing to do with translating anything from any other language.
And since they doubled down on it being the actual origin when pressed on it, I don't think they were joking.
..it was pretty obviously a shitpost, dude.
Absolutely not. You don't double down on a joke.
Thank you for the correct interpretation, I really need to remember that one