More Background
I thought my last post was going a bit long, so I finished it up. But then I thought of more that I wanted to write.
One theme that’ll be apparent in this blog is that, in living on the east coast, the west coast, the east coast again, and now the midwest, B and I have developed a bit of a fascination with the state-to-state and region-to-region differences in this here big country of ours. This encompasses little things—like how Interstate 95 is just “95” on the east coast, but 5 and 15 are “the 5” and “the 15” on the west coast, or whether people say “soda” or “pop”—to culturally significant things—like the foods people eat or what music is popular—to nationally significant things—like religious or political beliefs. Mostly we’ll stick to the first two categories :-)
Anyway, we’re aware that most people don’t share this fascination. We’ve got friends that travel frequently, friends that have lived in different parts of the country, etc., and it definitely seems like a minority of folks share our fascination with the little differences. But here we are anyway!
Now, in observing and discussing these differences, there’s two pitfalls to beware, which I will watch out for in this here blog.
The first is the various negative reactions people can have to that which is different. These often take the form of “That is weird!” or “That is silly, naïve, stupid, gross, unsanitary, backwards, old-fashioned, ignorant, so ‘Hoosiers,’ etc.” Of particular concern to the city type is thinking “Oh that’s so quaint/cute!” of the non-city type. It doesn’t sound like a pejorative but you gotta think about how the person you’re thinking that about would react if you said that aloud. (This is an issue for us when we encounter folks with heavy northern Minnesota accents, but that’s a different post.) The point is, in writing about Minnesotans and the ways things are here in the Land of 10,000 lakes, we don’t want to come off as talking down; we’re just writing down what strikes as different and interesting—and yes, in some cases funny, but we’re not jerks.
The second concern is exaggeration. I’m aware that just cause one cashier says “Oh, it’s heckuva day out there, you betcha!” doesn’t mean every Minnesotan has a really heavy accent. And just cause we had pork chop on stick at the state fair doesn’t mean that they don’t use knives and forks out here. But when you’re interested in local dialect, customs, and so forth, a trap you can fall into is thinking that something you encountered once or twice is more common than it is. Another trap is thinking that things are more local than they are: It’s likely that many things B and I might describe as “Minnesotan” are common to other Midwestern states.* We’re trying to avoid exaggeration, but lapses and/or errors may creep in.
* B and I were given the book How to Talk Minnesotan when we moved here. I think one of the biggest problems in the book is that some of the (albeit) humorous customs and sayings in the book are not confined to Minnesota, but are found throughout the Midwest, and in some cases most of the country. Clearly the author went mostly for humor—and writing up anything funny he could find—rather than confining himself just to strictly Minnesotan idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. B and I will try not to make that mistake, and if we do, we won’t charge you $11 to read it.
OK, enough disclaimers. The next post will actually be about Minnesota and not us.
One theme that’ll be apparent in this blog is that, in living on the east coast, the west coast, the east coast again, and now the midwest, B and I have developed a bit of a fascination with the state-to-state and region-to-region differences in this here big country of ours. This encompasses little things—like how Interstate 95 is just “95” on the east coast, but 5 and 15 are “the 5” and “the 15” on the west coast, or whether people say “soda” or “pop”—to culturally significant things—like the foods people eat or what music is popular—to nationally significant things—like religious or political beliefs. Mostly we’ll stick to the first two categories :-)
Anyway, we’re aware that most people don’t share this fascination. We’ve got friends that travel frequently, friends that have lived in different parts of the country, etc., and it definitely seems like a minority of folks share our fascination with the little differences. But here we are anyway!
Now, in observing and discussing these differences, there’s two pitfalls to beware, which I will watch out for in this here blog.
The first is the various negative reactions people can have to that which is different. These often take the form of “That is weird!” or “That is silly, naïve, stupid, gross, unsanitary, backwards, old-fashioned, ignorant, so ‘Hoosiers,’ etc.” Of particular concern to the city type is thinking “Oh that’s so quaint/cute!” of the non-city type. It doesn’t sound like a pejorative but you gotta think about how the person you’re thinking that about would react if you said that aloud. (This is an issue for us when we encounter folks with heavy northern Minnesota accents, but that’s a different post.) The point is, in writing about Minnesotans and the ways things are here in the Land of 10,000 lakes, we don’t want to come off as talking down; we’re just writing down what strikes as different and interesting—and yes, in some cases funny, but we’re not jerks.
The second concern is exaggeration. I’m aware that just cause one cashier says “Oh, it’s heckuva day out there, you betcha!” doesn’t mean every Minnesotan has a really heavy accent. And just cause we had pork chop on stick at the state fair doesn’t mean that they don’t use knives and forks out here. But when you’re interested in local dialect, customs, and so forth, a trap you can fall into is thinking that something you encountered once or twice is more common than it is. Another trap is thinking that things are more local than they are: It’s likely that many things B and I might describe as “Minnesotan” are common to other Midwestern states.* We’re trying to avoid exaggeration, but lapses and/or errors may creep in.
* B and I were given the book How to Talk Minnesotan when we moved here. I think one of the biggest problems in the book is that some of the (albeit) humorous customs and sayings in the book are not confined to Minnesota, but are found throughout the Midwest, and in some cases most of the country. Clearly the author went mostly for humor—and writing up anything funny he could find—rather than confining himself just to strictly Minnesotan idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. B and I will try not to make that mistake, and if we do, we won’t charge you $11 to read it.
OK, enough disclaimers. The next post will actually be about Minnesota and not us.
posted by James at 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home