A Little Minnesota Humor :)

[Chuck Engels]

The Ten Commandments
(Minnesota Style)

ole_lena.jpg

1. Der's only one God, ya know.
2. Don't make that fish on your mantle an idol.
3. Cussin ain't Minnesota nice.
4. Go to church even when you're up nort.
5. Honor your folks.
6. Don't kill. Catch and release.
7. There's only one Lena for every Ole. No cheatin.
8. If it ain't your lutefisk, don't take it.
9. Don't be braggin bout how much snow ya shoveled.
10. Keep your mind off your neighbor's hotdish.

[Steve Grisetti]

Oh, dat's quite funny, aina hey?

[Ken Jarstad]

Yaw, shuer, yew betcha! (Norsk!)

[momoffduty]

That is funny! And Steve I do not hear an accent on your tutorials. Are you a native or transplant?

[Steve Grisetti]

Yes. I'm originally from northeast Ohio -- where people pronounce "steering wheel" as if it were spelled "stirring wheel."

Listen carefully. A bit of my accent is still there, even though I haven't lived there in decades.

And I did manage to train myself not to say "warsh cloth".

[momoffduty]

And I did manage to train myself not to say "warsh cloth".

I had to train myself on that one too. When we moved to Denver many years ago, my coworkers said I had an accent. One of the company branches was in WA state and the whole office would howl when I said Tacoma, Warshington!

[videovillageidiot]

good stuff Chuck! i never used to think i had a minnesooooota accent (i've occasionally been told i have a twang like from texas or somethin'?!). but lately, i've noticed i hold the "o" in some words. i think i've mocked the accent for so many years (particularly since "Fargo" back in the 90's) that it is actually now part of how i speak. (and those 4 dark years listening to Jesse Ventura when he was governor sure didn't help!!)

[cdeemer]

Since we're talking accents ... I was born in the Navy hospital in Norfolk, VA and started school in Dallas TX. By the time our Navy family reached So Calif in 1948, I had a southern accent. My parents were called to school, along with the parents of other kids with accents, and strongly advised to put me into Speech Therapy ... which indeed I took after school for several years until they trained me to speak like a human being. True story, y'all.

[Ken Jarstad]

Speaking of Warshington, I had a friend who said that all the time. When he did I would tease him about it in hopes of him breaking the habit. Then he would say, "I'm sorry, it's Waaaashington (a as in at).

[Chuck Engels]

Charles, how do you pronounce Oregon?

[cdeemer]

Chuck, Oregon is pronounced ... OR-ee-gun ... the most common mispronunciation is ...-gone

[Chuck Engels]

I have to laugh because an old friend of mine in the Army was from Oregon. He really didn't like the way I pronounced 'Or - e (short e sound) - gahn'. I think it can have a short i sound or a long e sound but it has to have 'gun' at the end

[Clayton]

started school in Dallas TX. By the time our Navy family reached So Calif in 1948, I had a southern accent. ....which indeed I took after school for several years until they trained me to speak like a human being. True story, y'all.

A matter of opinion as to who speaks like a human being. We in Texas are proud of our accent.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Deliberately extremely provocative.....

...of course all of you colonials alway did seem to develp wierd accents!

(That is definitely meant as a JOKE. OK)

[Ken Jarstad]

Several years ago (can't remember how many) our PBS, Public Broadcasting aired a show named "History of the English Language" which ran into several episodes. One of the interesting points was that after the Normans invaded England the language included portions of the invaders language and it has been identified as Anglo-Saxon ever since. They traced the roots of English back to an small village where people still spoke the old way and it was almost unintelligible to me! The most peculiar aspect of it to me was they never pronounced "ing" instead said "in", as in goin' and walkin', just as many of us today speak when we are sloppy in our pronunciation