Minnesota-isms...anyone???

A forum for discussing US dialects (accents).
MNgyal
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Minnesota-isms...anyone???

Postby MNgyal » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:01 am

I'm Minnesotan but I went to school with people from across the nation and spent lots of time having the following linguistic quirks pointed out:

*Minnesotans seem to be the only ones who say "duck, duck, grey duck" instead of 'duck, duck, goose." I haven't even found other Mid-Westerners who say this.

*We say root the same as soot , not like boot. We also say roof the same as hoof, not like aloof.

*I don't, but a lot of Minnesotans say melk for milk, pellow for pillow, beyg for bag, and peyn for pen.

*The actors in Fargo don't quite nail it, but we do say yaah (yeah), shoor (sure) and ya betcha (you bet you, I guess, though I'd never thought to break it down before).

*We abuse the word "with" in sentences involving the verbs take, come and go, as in "You're going to Suzie's? Great! Can you take this with?" or "No, he doesn't like the library, but he's coming with anyway." or "She can't go with because she's too small."

*It's Minnesoda. Soft d, no t. We still say pop though: )

KatyBr
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Re: Minnesota-isms...anyone???

Postby KatyBr » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:15 am


*The actors in Fargo don't quite nail it, but we do say yaah (yeah), shoor (sure) and ya betcha (you bet you, I guess, though I'd never thought to break it down before).

*We abuse the word "with" in sentences involving the verbs take, come and go, as in "You're going to Suzie's? Great! Can you take this with?" or "No, he doesn't like the library, but he's coming with anyway." or "She can't go with because she's too small."

*It's Minnesoda. Soft d, no t. We still say pop though: )
My mother would have probably killed me if I'd ended a sentance with 'with'. I did hear that a lot. 'I ain't got no...' was another of her no-no's. pop yes, I thought it was universal until I moved. In the Fargo accent they have a strange flattened nasalized "A".

Kt

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:24 am

I thought it was funny how one of my neighbors pronounced Chicago /shi-KAW-go/. Everybody else seemed to say /shi-KAH-go/.

A similar "shock" was when I first heard the word sausage, which I and everybody else I know pronounce /SAW-sidj/ being pronounced /SAH-sidj/ by a friend of mine. When I told her I thought it was funny, she said, jokingly "Oh, it's because I'm from /shi-KAH-go/.

Brazilian dude, to whom o's are ah's but au's are awe's, not ah's.
:D
Languages rule!

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:55 pm

I heard frequent yooper English when learning to speak like them folks in Wiscaaaaaaaahnsin...
-gailr

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:01 pm

I heard frequent yooper English when learning to speak like them folks in Wiscaaaaaaaahnsin...
-gailr
Int'resting! I liked Oxenscheisse!
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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Postby KatyBr » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:14 pm

I've only been to the UP once never heard much local talk, but Larry we calls 'em cow chips here in the land of washing machine planters in our front yards.

LOL
Kt
Gail, how you bin?
BD, how is 'Kah' and 'Kaw' not the same?

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:25 am

Back about 1967 or 1968 there was a small book, a political spoof on Orwell's Animal Farm, called Animal Ranch. The main character was a large bull called Lyndon Bull, who wanted to lead the barnyard, running on a platform for the Grade A Society. His supporters wore campaign buttons with the slogan Bull's It! I thought Oxenscheisse would be a good substitute.

Aha! It was 1966!

Image
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:04 am

BD, how is 'Kah' and 'Kaw' not the same?
No, to me they aren't. The first would be Kah, with an A like in German Laken, the second Kaw, with an ô sound, like in German Gott, or the first would be like the A in Spanish para and the second as the O in dolor.

Brazilian dude
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William
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Postby William » Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:17 pm

*Minnesotans seem to be the only ones who say "duck, duck, grey duck" instead of 'duck, duck, goose." I haven't even found other Mid-Westerners who say this.
I had not heard of "duck, duck, goose" until I was almost 30 when my first child was between toddler and kindergarten.
*We say root the same as soot , not like boot. We also say roof the same as hoof, not like aloof.
Here in the Southwest the vowel portions of root, soot (same as "suit" but not "see oot") boot, roof, hoof and aloof all sound the same.
*We abuse the word "with" in sentences involving the verbs take, come and go, as in "You're going to Suzie's? Great! Can you take this with?" or "No, he doesn't like the library, but he's coming with anyway." or "She can't go with because she's too small."
This abomination seems to have come to the Southwest only in the last five years or so. The first time I heard it a DJ used it on a morning radio program.

William

ssoprano
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Minnesota-isms

Postby ssoprano » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:19 am

Watching "Fargo" was like going home to me. I didn't realize til recently that "go with" was a local term. I still catch myself saying "okey-dokey" at work and I haven't lived in Minnesota for 35 years. Does anyone remember: didn't we stand "in line" as opposed to "on line" like
New Yorkers do? In grade school I used rubber binders, not rubber bands, but I can't remember what state I lived in then. Sound familiar to anyone?
susie q

chlyn
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Re: Minnesota-isms...anyone???

Postby chlyn » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:05 pm

we do say yaah (yeah), shoor (sure) and ya betcha (you bet you, I guess, though I'd never thought to break it down before).
ya betcha is a shortened form of "you [can] bet your...[insert word]"

Some examples are:
You [can] bet your life [on it]!
You can bet your bottom dollar!
You bet your a$$!

I like a former boss's phrase: Dollars to doughnuts!

When I Yahoo'd ya betcha, look what link came up second:
http://home.comcast.net/%7emy_minnesota/minnesota.html

You might enjoy that site. :0) There were also a lot of links for Wisconsin.

Huia Iesou
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Re: Minnesota-isms

Postby Huia Iesou » Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:18 am

I still catch myself saying "okey-dokey" at work and I haven't lived in Minnesota for 35 years. Does anyone remember: didn't we stand "in line" as opposed to "on line" like New Yorkers do?
In New Hampshire we sometimes say okiedokie and always are in line. I've never heard of being on line except as in the Internet, when it's one word.

Maygen
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Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan

Postby Maygen » Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:23 am

Some of it gets diluted, you know my sis-in-law was telling me the the yooper...

yooper-someone from the Upper Pennisula of Michigan....the people in the Lower Pennisula are called trolls--because we live under or below the bridge...the Mackinac Bridge.

...dialect is the fastest dying dialect in the US...not sure where she got the info. Here in northern lower Michigan we too say ya betcha...but here it is more like you bet chya. I personally say roof as ruff not with the oooh sound. Same with hoof not quite like roof... but as I say it now I have a slight oooh (as in ooh and aah) but hooves...asking hubby if he cleaned the hooves on our horse...it is huves with a short u sound or uh as in uh huh. I also noticed I say roof different in context...if hubby needs to get on the ruff...but if we want to change from our metal roof I say it wiht the oooh sound. When I say okay...it is more mmkay...kinda like the teacher on South Park...maybe that is where it came from. But I remember my aunt from Michigan too saying okie dokie a lot. When I say Minnesota...it is MinnUHsoda. When I say Wiconsin...it is Wis-CON-sin, but my friend from Wiconsin says it..Wis-KAHN-sin. I noticed after spending time with a couple of yoopers at truck driving school, I picked up eh?...afterwards, I had people asking where I was from in Canada or if I was headed home to Ontario, even though I don't say about as aboot. Before that when I was about 18, I listened to a lot of country music...people would ask where in the south I was from. Then I went down to Tennessee for a few months and my father took me to his friend's house...She started talking to me...( I am usually ok with accents..but man alive! Have any of you ever seen the show Blossom {80's show} with Six her neighbor...she talked like Six and with her dialect...whew...I just did the courtesy nod and uhh huh's, my dad elbowed me..'Are ya gonna answer her?'...'sure if I knew what the hell she was sayin'. I couldn't believe people back home thought I sounded like that! I find I pick up on things from other areas rather easily so it may just be me? Though, I don't seem to pick up on accents...just key words and pronunciation of such. I am begining to think no one will ever know where I am really from. I think that is why so many dialects are getting diluted...we live in a very mobile society...people move and relocate...have friends from all over the world and country. I was watching TV once in a while over the road trucking and I was surprised that many of the country's news broadcasters sounded very midwestern...not much of any hint that you were watching the news in Atlanta or Boston or Houston...all very washed out.
Last edited by Maygen on Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:25 pm

yooper? what is that?

mark

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Fri Apr 07, 2006 3:12 pm

yooper? what is that?

mark
Yooper? She left a link; click and it shall be yours! :D
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


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