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You see it on bumper stickers and t-shirts everywhere. Owning some kind of marketable product with the phrase written in comic sans, or whatever, seems an exponentially growing trend. I’m not even sure when and why the phrase was created. All I can recall of it, is that I noticed it pop up when I was working on South Congress around 2001, or so.

Now I see it all over the place.  It’s caught on like wildfire.  Huh…that’s weird.  Well, maybe not.  Maybe it’s predictable.  Maybe having such an interesting slogan was bound to be embraced by the masses when they finally decided to move to Austin. What’s really weird, is that many of the people that visit or just recently moved here seem to be the most vocal in the marketed protest to keep Austin weird.

But the most bizarre thing, is that it has become a slogan that doesn’t mean at all what it was originally designed for. Just like “Don’t Mess With Texas“, the phrase was created for a specific purpose, but the public grabbed it and gave it their own meaning.

After starting this article, I decided to do a web search and see what I could learn about it. It turns out the phrase was created to promote local shopping and keep major chain stores away from the downtown area. Stores on South Congress especially embraced the campaign. If there’s one place that has almost nothing at all to offer, yet somehow has become the heart of the hipster scene, it’s South Congress.

Ironically, the small business organization nor creator of the slogan took the extra step of registering trademark for it. Instead, the owner of an Austin based t-shirt printing company, Outhouse Designs, owns it. My guess is that the shirt printer was hired by the local organization to begin the campaign supporting local shops and asking Austin people to keep it weird. Then the shirt printer probably checked the slogan for trademark, found it unregistered and decided to fill out the form. If there is one thing that is not weird, and that’s hard business people. Ouch!

I’m just puzzled at the amount of people that sport the phrase, and the tremendous success it has seen as a marketable product. It does seem to fit. Austin always was the little big city, and with more than it’s share of weird people running around. Actually, there’s a lot of weirdness in Austin. Just what part of the weird are we supposed to be preserving?

I’ve seen a lot and not all of it would I like to see again. But instead of playing devil’s advocate, I’ll forgo bringing up the stuff that’s just downright strange, and I’ll try to stick with the weird. But it’s all relative, which is my point. What part of weird do these people wearing shirts and bumper stickers want to keep as part of how Austin is defined? What is weird, to them?

When I moved to Austin, in 1989, it was already weird and about to turn slacker. Acid was $5 on the drag and the city was a cakewalk at night. The live music scene was as plentiful as it is today. And with bands like The Butthole Surfers and Crust, the scene was cemented in weird. Plus you could always check out Thor drumming for Water the Dog while wearing a diaper.

Austin also has always had a large gay population. Lord knows how weird that can get. Between musicians and gays, if you’ve ever shared a room with anyone, i’ll bet they were one of those two, or both! If not a roommate, then a neighbor. The degree of separation for gays and musicians in Austin is about 2. You can’t throw a rock anywhere without hitting one of them.

Then there’s the homeless. Some of those people are pretty weird. Does anyone remember Martha? I used to skate board down the drag and see her all the time. Then there was Captain Jack in the Clarksville area. The guy actually had some money and a house, but he was just weird and liked the streets better.

The streets are filled with homeless characters, and currently Leslie holds the title for weirdest homeless cross-dresser. He’ll shove his string bikini ass in your face, as your dining on a south congress patio and the girls nearby will scream for more. If it’s someone’s first sighting of Leslie, whether his ass is in their face or just afar, if they’ve seen the Keep Austin Weird bumper sticker and t-shirt then they nervously oblige the weirdness with a forced smile and wide eyes.

The weirdness in Austin has a get out of jail free card. The more eclectic one is, the more people pretend to enjoy the company. If it’s on a bumper sticker, it must be cool…right?