Sep 24 2012
Oh, thyat Minnahsooohta accent.
Image is an xy graph entitled “Why My Old Friends From Illinois and My Family Laugh At Me When We Hang Out”. X-axis title is “Time I Live in Minnesota (Years)”. Y-axis title is “Time It Takes Me To Say Words Containing a Long “O” (seconds). Trendline indicates a proportional relationship between x and y.
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:)
12 comments
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Rodney Nelson
September 24, 2012 at 19:33 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It could be worse. You could be from “Joisey”.
Madeline
September 24, 2012 at 19:53 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I got out of a ticket in New York solely by virtue of Minnesota plates and intentionally long o’s!
tubi
September 24, 2012 at 20:58 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I grew up in Maryland and New Jersey, went to school in Pennsylvania, and then lived in Arizona, Cali, Texas, and Colorado, before moving to Minnesota 12 years ago. I don’t really have an accent that’s readily identifiable with any place, and I certainly haven’t picked up any of the MN inflections.
I just got back from visiting my mother in Sacramento, and every person she introduced me to, upon finding out I live in MN, said, “Oh, Minneesoootaah.” I really bugged me for some reason, maybe because I don’t talk that way. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Stephanie Zvan
September 24, 2012 at 22:30 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Bwahahahahaha! Er, or you have my sympathies. Right, sympathies. That’s it. *snerk*
Ken
September 25, 2012 at 07:13 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Former Minnesotan here…
My understanding of your graph is that the longer you live in MN, the longer it takes you to vocalize a tell-tale long “O” word. I would have thought it would take less time.
Brianne Bilyeu
September 25, 2012 at 12:44 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As a former Minnahsohtan you may remember the way some Northeners draaaaawl out that long “o” with a bit of a rising inflection, sometimes even getting an “ah” sound in there? E.g. “Wanna go up north and do some fishin’ in the boaht? I’ll never have that strong of an accent, but I used to say “boat” like “bote” – one strong, hard syllable, firm “t”. Now it’s more likely to come out “bohht”, with a much softer “t”. So it’s not a matter of proficiency, it’s that I’m picking up the drawl.
Socio-gen, something something...
September 25, 2012 at 11:44 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Oh that’s awesome!
My adult kids and probably half my family had a great time laughing at my new accent during my summer visit. I think I picked it up faster because I’m out here on the border with North Dah-KOOOOOH-da.
anne mariehovgaard
September 25, 2012 at 15:31 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
So (soooh?) a Minnesota accent is really a Norwegian accent?
hypocee
September 25, 2012 at 19:21 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Exactly! It actually does derive from a concentration of Norwegian (or maybe generally Scandinavian?) immigrants at one point in history.
“Powdermilk biscuits are made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers, so you know they’re not only good for you, but also pure, mostly.”
Kim
September 26, 2012 at 08:47 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You missed the part about how it is pronounced Minnesooooda. More of a ‘da’ at the end than ‘ta’. Similar to North Dakoooda.
B Braton
September 26, 2012 at 14:00 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
If you want to sound really authentic, pronounce “th” as “t”. For example, “I live close to Nort Dakoooda”
qwerty
September 27, 2012 at 11:10 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Soooooo, what’s your problem, then?
Qwerty, a native Minnesooootan.