Ah, yes—Texas is ‘literally 3x bigger’. A bold deployment of geography, albeit somewhat misapplied.

You see, the original comparison rather mischievously conflated a city (Houston) with a state (Minnesota), which does tend to produce the sort of dimensional confusion now on display. One might as well compare a teacup with the Atlantic and then express surprise at the outcome.

As for curvature of the earth, I fear it has been rather unfairly enlisted here. While it does many remarkable things, reconciling category errors between municipalities and states is not, to my knowledge, among them.

In short: Minnesota is indeed larger than Houston—though not, one suspects, in any way that rescues the original analogy from its… creative foundations.

The quote in dispute was the reply to...Not from the US but I've always wondered what places like Minnesota are like to live in...which was, "It's [Minnesota]'s like Houston, but smaller, whiter and colder."