How to Talk Minnesotan

How to Talk Minnesotan

(On Amazon)

As many of you probably know, much of my maternal lineage resides in the state of Minnesota. My family and I go to visit these relatives around the holidays every year. Before we drive down to rural southern Minnesota where most of them live, we enjoy visiting the Mall of America near the twin cities. At one of the souvenir stores, my mother bought this book. 

The book is written by Howard Mohr, who used to be a writer for A Prairie Home Companion. For those of you who don't know it, A Prairie Home Companion is a radio show that takes place in the mythical place of Lake Wobegon, MN. It's pretty funny. 

I've been reading it vigilantly. First of all, I want to learn the art of speaking Minnesotan, because I feel like it could be useful for improv comedy or something like that. Secondly, I wanted to see if the stereotypes this book spoke of were actually true.

Though some aspects of the Minnesotan language were exaggerated, some were quite true to life, and I would like to talk about a few of these things here.

Minnesotans talk in a very reserved manner. When they speak, they lower their vocal intonation throughout the sentence. They try to avoid making any overly opinionated or emotional statements in the fear of offending someone. At the same time, they can be subtly passive-aggressive. Generally though, Minnesotans are enthusiastic and friendly.

Here are some common phrases and information about meals in Minnesota.

Common Phrases

You bet

This can be a general reply to pretty much anything. You can say it after a thank you, or you can say it to agree to a person's previous point.

That's different

This is the kind way of saying "I don't quite understand/approve of what you're doing but I see no reason to raise an objection with you."

Whatever

This is a way of expressing submissive disinterest when something doesn't go your way. Instead of getting angry, a simple "whatever" passes off the situation.

Not so bad

This means you're doing good. But you don't want to say you're doing good, because sooner or later, you'll probably be doing bad.

Meals

Breakfast

The same as our breakfast

Dinner

The mid-day meal. We usually call this lunch. Dinner is the largest meal of the day.

Supper

What we call dinner. It is somewhat smaller than Minnesotan dinner.

Lunch

Lunch is the snack eaten between meals. There is an after breakfast lunch, an after dinner lunch, and an after supper lunch.

Salad

A Minnesotan Salad is just jello. I'm not kidding. When I ate dinner with my grandma for Christmas, this was the appetizer.