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Beth Nicolaides's avatar

"Scandinavian-Americans," I meant. "Minnesota nice" is not really all that nice, though. It better represents a limited tolerance and skepticism.

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MrMangoOnMyShoulder's avatar

(It also means four cars at a four-way stop sign assuming the other guy should go first, then the awkward stop/go/stop exercise in futility, costing everyone 30 seconds of their respective days)

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Alzaebo's avatar

Hilarious, 'cuz its true! You shake your head, but then can't help but smile. Those Scandi's are just as sweet as spun sugar. The funny thing is when they all get to jabbering in Deep Nord; I can only make out about one word in three.

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Beth Nicolaides's avatar

What's "Deep Nord"? I know that when my sister and I get going, we lapse into the prosody of tonal Norwegian, but it's nothing like our grandma's brogue. She always sounded on the verge of tears. I don't know why we do this. A coworker who didn't like me much told me I sounded like a furriner.

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MrMangoOnMyShoulder's avatar

Agreed. As a Minnesotan, I've long known that Minnesota Nice really means "non-confrontational, overly-cautious, and passive-aggressive".

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Beth Nicolaides's avatar

Oh, but hey, sometimes we just let 'er rip. There is nothing more stinging than hearing one of us pause, then say, "Well, THAT'S different."

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MrMangoOnMyShoulder's avatar

"Da hell was dat..."

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Alzaebo's avatar

The Minnesotan and Wisconsinite were walking by the lake one day, and found a bottle on the beach. Rubbing the sand off, a cloud of smoke poured billowed forth and poof!- out came the genie.

"There are two of you, so I can only grant each one wish," he announced. "Now, what will it be?"

The Minnesotan spoke up. "I want you to put a wall around my state to keep out dat bunch over dere!" he said, shaking his fist at Wisconsin. And poof!- a giant wall appeared, all around Minnesota.

"Now you," the genie said, "What is your wish?" to the other.

The Wisconsinite began pulling at his beard. "Ay dunno...," he mumbled, dismayed. Suddenly, he brightened. "Ooo, ay know! Now...fill it wit water!!"

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Beth Nicolaides's avatar

Lol!

I only know anti-Iowa jokes, for some reason. Probably from being married to a Minnesotan.

Q: What keeps Minnesota from sliding into Lake Superior?

A: Because Iowa sucks.

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Mary Ann Caton's avatar

WalzтАЩs snitch line during covid seems to be a good example of that.

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