Talk:Ark-La-Tex

Untitled
Who invented this sobriquet? Quite recent I imagine. Sounds journalese for "Texarkana." Wetman 07:57, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * I don't know if the name was invented or emerged gradually over time, although I am inlcined to think the latter. The name is not recent, my 82 year old grandmother has used the name her entire life. I would say that the name at least predates the use of the word Oklahoma to discribe the modern state as it is not included in the name, but is considered part of the region. There are also variants on the spelling ArkLaTex and Arklatex, both of which are more commonly used by locals. The Ark-La-Tex spelling was popularized by televison stations, and is more popular to use in business names. Personally I prefer Arklatex or ArkLaTex to Ark-La-Tex, it just looks idiotic. Ark-La-Tex does get more google hits though, which is why I haven't moved it.


 * The name is does not refer to Texarkana, but a region roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont, with a population between one and two million depending on how its borders are defined. Texarkana is only the secondary metro area, Shreveport/Bossier is the major metro. With Marshall, Texas and Natchitoches, Louisiana as the other major population centers in the region.


 * -JCarriker 18:07, Aug 5, 2004 (UTC)

The core of Ark-La-Tex?
Shreveport is referred to in its article as "the commercial and cultural center of the Ark-La-Tex," while Texarkana is refered to in its own article as "the core of the Ark-La-Tex region." This seems rather contradictory, and should probably be clarified/corrected. Possibly the statements in both articles could be changed to something like "one of the two major Metropolitan Statistical Areas of Ark-La-Tex"? Erp Erpington 08:42, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Importance
I feel that the Ark-La-Tex is an important US cultural region and not just b/c I used to live there. I think it deserves a bit higher rating from Wikiproject Texas then Low-importance. --Leodmacleod 20:02, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Autonomy?
"The region is centered on the Shreveport/Bossier metropolitan area in Northwest Louisiana, although Marshall in Northeast Texas, Natchitoches, Louisiana, and both Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas retain a large degree of autonomy."

This sentence in the lead implies that (a) the Arklatex is an actual political entity and (b) Shreveport/Bossier has some authority over the region, specicifically over the other cities listed. For them to have "a large degree of autonomy" would mean there are at least some matters in which they are not autonomous. Is there some other meaning that I'm just missing? LarryJeff (talk) 20:00, 21 April 2011 (UTC)