Well since there is a thread for southern words and phrases I thought us northerners should be represented too. And I know that what you are thinking of right now is the movie "Fargo." No...we dont all talk like 'dat, but for some of us its not too far off ya know.

Anyways...here is a sampling of our language. Alot of which I use.

Uff-Da: No real, meaning..and I have trouble defining it. Say someone is having car trouble, and it is going to cost alot to fix it, you would respond by saying, "Uff-dah, thats too bad" or "Uff-da, dats expensive". Or in another situation you could say Uff-da...Im tired, or Uff-da its cold out (or hot). You get the idea

You Betcha: general agreement

You Bet: shortened version of above

Barley Pop: Beer

Pop: Soda

Unthaw: meaning defrost, although if you are unthawing something you actually are freezing it.

Spendy: Expensive

Ish or Ish-ta: Gross, unpleasant


You Might Be Minnesotan If:

you know how to say Wayzata, Mahtomedi, Shakopee, Mille Lacs, and Bemidji among others

going on vacation means your going "Up north"

the first time you entered the Metrodome you looked up and said, "sure could stack a lot of hay bales in here!"

you can recite, from memory, more than a half-dozen "Ole and Lena" jokes.

you know people named Ole and Lena.

the first time you saw "Grumpy Old Men" you thought it was a documentary

you support the preservation of forests, farmland and wetlands because that's where you hunt deer, pheasants and geese.

your daily meals are breakfast, dinner, and supper

you grew up thinking rice was only for dessert

your town has an equal number of bars and churches (almost always true, but in Wisconsin they have 2 bars for every church LOL)

your local Dairy Queen is closed from December through February.
(YEP!)

you believe that rushing out on the lakes with your pick-up in November is nature's way of upgrading the state's gene pool

you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping the food will swim by

you dont think its wierd that outdoor pop machines have heaters

And probably the best of all: your state pays a bounty for killing the state mascot

 

Huh?

 

Ya, you betcha! Here in Minnesota, our state animal is not only a rodent (13 stripe pocket gopher), but we pay a bounty for eliminating them!

You might be a Minnesota Lightning owner if:

your Lightning is in storage from November thru April...mine IS!

 

Know all those except for Mahtomedi and Mille Lacs.



What about adding LeSuer in there.

 

Interesting...

 

ya!

 

"Two bars to every church in Wisconsin"????
Just checked the phone book here. Try THREE bars to every church!

 

Ya hey dare! Do you eat Kringle and Lefsa too, dare?

 

Do you fellas wear your cheese-head hats while driving?

 

Lefse and Lutefisk - Uff Da! All the good stuff...

Anyone wonder now where my screen name is from?

You also might be a Minnesotan if:

-You know at least three people who've hit deer with their cars.

-School has ever been canceled just because its "too cold".

-You know what the other state holiday is on Mothers Day Weekend (Walleye Opener!)

-You've snowmobiled or skiied to get to school or work

-You played hockey and broomball for Phy Ed on outdoor rinks

 

What the heck is Kringle? Never heard of it...must be a German thing. I have absolutely no German in my background at all. But I do eat lefse...man is that good stuff, especially my grandma's made from scratch. Its the best thinly spread with butter, then coated in sugar or cinnamon sugar. Roll it up and its pretty tasty. Works great for burritos and tacos too. Basically its the same thing as a flour tortilla...except its made from potatos.

I also eat "hot dish" (casserole for you non Minnesotans), swedish meatballs, and creamed corn. Good stuff ya know...oh and you cant forget apple crisp, and and of course "bars." There are many different kinds of bars, lemon bars, mint bars, among many others.

 

Kringle is a pastry. Its like a sweet roll or Danish, only its a ring. Imagin a 14" trim ring that you can eat. By golly, doze are some good eatin, ya? I know they have them in Wisconsin, I guess I wrongly assumed they were in Mn too. Guess I shoulda said "walleye sandwich" instead.

Say, can you share the "A tousand Swedes ran tru da weeds" song with us? I can't remember how it goes, ya know.

I'm from Chicago, but have traveled to Duluth a number of times. You guys like your wild rice too! That's the only place I've ever been to that has road-side stands that sell frozen meats of various types, about a dosen different kinds of wild rice, and small animal pelts, like skunk, racoon and fox, all in the same store!

 

If you're familiar with the Pioneer Seed logo, thats what Kringla usually look like. They're pretty good.

I'm about 1/2 Scandanavian (Norwegian and Swedish). And I know all about Kringla and Lefse. Heck I help my parents make it every year at our church's Scandanavian Fair, and then again at Christmas. You have to eat it with butter and either white or brown sugar (I'm partial to white sugar myself). MMMMM, thats some good stuff.

You also can't forget about ebelskevers (sp?) those are damned good too.

The one Scandanavian food you absolutely can't forget that NOBODY likes, at least here in the US is Lutefisk. Yuck, nothing like fish fermented in Lye. Makes me gag just thinking about it. For some reason they make it every Christmas at my aunt and uncles and NOBODY eats hardly any of it.

Velkomen! Offf Da! Can't forget about dem dar Ole and Lena jokes ya.

 

They sound like cross-bred gophers. Down South in Iowa, we have two species of gophers, the Pocket Gopher which is rarely ever seen above ground and the 13-Line Striped Gopher that you see standing in the fields or on the side of the road. The Pocket Gopher is stocky with long "buck" teeth and powerful shoulders to dig with using thick, long claws. The Striped Gopher is thin and resembles a ground squirrel.

Leave it to a corncob from Iowa to know the difference.

 

Hey Miller!!

You send me a kringle (pecan would be nice), I'll send you a box of warm weather.

Does this give you a hint about where I'm from....

The biggest thing in town is Friday Night Fish Fry at the K of C.

You took a week off of school to go deer hunting.

You knew where to look on a can of Old Style to see the guy whizzing on a tree.

You can still sing the Hamm's jingle.

Floats in the homecoming parade are pulled by tractors.

Your school has more members in FFA than on the football team.