The Dictionary That Translates ‘Minnesotan’ Into English

Is our Minnesota dialect so unique that we need a dictionary to explain things to folks not from here? Maybe!

My wife and I are getting ready to head down to New Orleans, Louisiana for a few days next week. A co-worker I did the morning show with when I was back in Wisconsin lives down in the Big Easy and her husband is a New Orleans native. So whenever we get together, he always points out my Minnesota-isms in the way I talk.

Just about every locale has their own unique-to-their-area vocabulary that can sometimes trip up folks from out of town. So when I'm going to be traveling to a new location, I like to do a little advance research on what the locals call things there so it's not so glaring I'm from out of town.

For instance, in California, they refer to their highways with a 'the' in front of with the actual highway number. If this was California, and you needed to drive to Minneapolis, you'd say you were taking 'The 52,' instead of what we call Highway-52.

It's with that in mind that I stumbled on this English-to-Minnesotan dictionary the Star Tribune in Minneapolis published a few years ago, when Super Bowl LII was at US Bank Stadium and a lot of out-of-towners were headed here to Minnesota.

Their dictionary explains the following words: The Cities, Fish House, Hot Dish, Minnesota Nice, Lutefisk, Supper, That's Interesting and Uff da. (Click HERE to read their definitions.) Those pretty much sum up Minnesota, don'tcha know!

Are there any other Minnesota-esque phrases you'd add that help translate Minnesotan into plain 'ol English?

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