How to speak Minnesotan.....

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

The Minneapolis Star Tribune had a whole section about Minnesotan's and their personalities/quirks last Sun. In the interest of helping new and prospective Minnesotans adapt to life in Minnesota. I thought I would post extracts and links.

Very funny read. :welcome:

In general, you can't go wrong with overgeneralizing

Often, thanks to our electoral-college history, these folks have the impression that Minnesota is a Democratic stronghold, as if we didn't have a badly coiffed right-wing governor and as if McKinley didn't shellac Bryan here back in '96. Of course, that was 1896, but even in more recent times, we've been known to break ranks for an upstanding Republican presidential candidate. That's why we went for Nixon in '72. It was Nixon who perhaps most eloquently summarized the Minnesota ethos with the following aphorism of wise complacency: "Don't try to take on a new personality; it doesn't work."

Being nasty, but nicely

I've always thought that the ultimate passive-aggressive move for people who grew up in Minnesota is to act like they don't know what passive aggression is.

"Me? I am not. Whatever that is. Gee, you look tired." It's a natural outgrowth of the nonexpressive communication style of Scandinavian, German and British cultures. All those built-up toxins have to be released somehow.

Sarcasm is lost on us

Is this essay funny enough for ya? A primer on irony deficiency.

Imagine if Basil Fawlty, proprietor of the infamous hotel in the "Fawlty Towers" British sitcom, established a branch in Minnesota.

Now imagine him upbraiding some simpleton guest by barking "Thank you so VERY BLOODY much."

Most Minnesotans would reply, "Heck, you're welcome." We don't get irony, nor its cousins: sarcasm, overstatement and understatement. Minnesota, it seems, has a dominant "literal gene" that renders much of the population incapable of "getting" a joke told with tongue firmly in cheek.

Traffic habits here can drive you crazy. This is a fine place to commute, as long as you don't get any funny ideas about changing lanes.

Driving in Minnesota is, as the natives say, different. It's not like California, where drivers constantly change lanes like flustered diners who can't decide between pasta Angelina or ribeye steak. Here, we give you one lane, and you'd better like it, because that's where you're staying.

[whatnext]

I thought I'd check out my home state and found your post. Too funny! About that whole driving thing, though, it's waaay worse down here in NC. Everybody thinks they're race car drivers, esp during race week. I never noticed the merging thing, do you? Anyway, just missing MN, but not the weather so much.