Many of those activities can be very hard on a wristwatch, so we often don’t wear one. Yet there are some folks who just generally can’t relax. They are always worried about what time it is.

So if you ask a watchless, relaxing Texan for the time, you are liable to see an elaborate and ironic pantomime, in which the person you asked for the time ostentatiously lifts his left arm, stares intently at his bare wrist for a moment, and then drawls, “I’d say it’s about a freckle past a hair.”

And that’s your cue not to ask such a dumb question again, if you know what’s good for you.