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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Category: Local
Posted on: May 26, 2008 8:42 PM, by PZ Myers
Greg Laden has posted a video that is wonderfully representative of life in rural Minnesota. If you can grok this short movie, you will have come a long way towards comprehending Minnesota.
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Comments
Yeah, I grok it. My father lives in Canada and hears tales about bush pilots and the like. I imagine Minnesota is just lower Canada.
Something tells me Heinlein would have groked it, too. "Always store beer in a dark place," and know how to filet a fish.
Posted by: RamblinDude | May 26, 2008 9:02 PM
The Minnesota accent is strong with this guy. Hurray!
Posted by: Colin M | May 26, 2008 9:02 PM
Oops, that's "fillet" isn't it? But...but I still grok, don't I?
Posted by: RamblinDude | May 26, 2008 9:09 PM
Huh, so Minnesota is a lot like Maine.
Posted by: Travis McDermott | May 26, 2008 9:11 PM
Wow. Been a long time since I've cleaned a fish.
God I want to go back to Minnesota. Hate fresh-water fish, but I do wanna go home.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 26, 2008 9:18 PM
Must be that Canadian influence. It must not be strong enough in Minnesota, though. The host of Canadian handyman show that I sometimes watch would have had a number of uses for duct tape during the course of that video and none was used at all.
Posted by: freelunch | May 26, 2008 9:19 PM
Sweet cordless filet knife!
I'm goin' up to Canada in just a couplea weeks.
Gonna get me one uh dem knives for shore lunch, youbetcha!
There is so much to be learned on Pharyngula.
Now we don't have to complain about the bones
in the Northerns, perfect.
Posted by: Atomicmutant | May 26, 2008 9:24 PM
The host of Canadian handyman show that I sometimes watch would have had a number of uses for duct tape during the course of that video and none was used at all.
erm....Red Green is a comedian, not a handyman. ;-)
Posted by: Graculus | May 26, 2008 9:37 PM
Lovely, but, I am seriously allergic to fish!!
Posted by: bigjohn756 | May 26, 2008 9:49 PM
"You ate a mushroom that you thought was a morel... You've lost your sense of smell."
from the stage play "How to Talk Minnesotan", circa 1997.
Posted by: Mike | May 26, 2008 9:50 PM
Grok! You've betrayed yourself, you hippie!
Posted by: paul01 | May 26, 2008 9:56 PM
What a fascinating accent. I'm a Canadian who lived in WI for several years. He almost sounds like someone from Milwaukee imitating a Canadian accent. I like it.
Posted by: skeptron | May 26, 2008 10:03 PM
I don't know how common it is for Minnesotans to say (or if it is limited to Minnesota), but I once knew a Minnesotan who often used the expression "Do you gotter done?" I was always tempted to say, "You bet! I gotter done!" but I know I could never have said it with a straight face.
Posted by: Fred | May 26, 2008 10:10 PM
My sister-in-law is Wisconsonian, and i think she, and her family , and fellow Wisconsonians have a stronger accent that is usually attributed to Minnesota.
Posted by: chuckgoecke | May 26, 2008 10:10 PM
my favorite recipe for Northern is rolled in cracker crumbs and fried in bacon grease. Ya betch, nothin better, don't ya know!
Posted by: rmp | May 26, 2008 10:12 PM
Well, ya, because you'd be saying it wrong. It's always "You betcha."
Posted by: PZ Myers | May 26, 2008 10:19 PM
arrgggg, my you betcha became a ya betch. Once again I embarrass my Swedish ancestry. In all honesty, the cracker crumb and bacon grease is amazing (albeit somewhat less than healthy).
Posted by: rmp | May 26, 2008 10:31 PM
The other way to fillet northern is to make 3 fillet from the fish, one along the top of the spine and the others alone the sides, but cut outwards along the y-bones.... of course, if I was as talented as the guy in the video with an electric carving knife, I'd probably do it the same way he does.
Posted by: Hammy | May 26, 2008 10:34 PM
Mike:
Must have been an atheist. Everybody knows that they have no sense of morels.
Posted by: Epikt | May 26, 2008 10:35 PM
fried in bacon grease. Ya betch, nothin better, don't ya know!
Fried in bacon grease makes everything better. Yesterday, I decided to make myself a Minnesota dinner in Boston. Some brats, simmered in beer and onions (with some Penzey's Bavarian Seasoning) and transfered to a grill pan to cook til finished (no grill allowed on the urban faux-fire escape) and some German Potato Salad. The best smell on the planet is onions sauteing in bacon grease. There is nothing that smells so good. Nothing. Not even roses in a warm spring shower, or a lover you want to jump NOW. Nothing smells as good as onions in bacon grease.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 26, 2008 10:36 PM
Well, ya, because you'd be saying it wrong. It's always "You betcha."
Well you're gosh darn tootin' it is, I mean, I say, a man can catch a lotta fish 'round those parts.
Still, as the man said in "Fargo": It's gonna be cold tomarra!
Posted by: Mike | May 26, 2008 10:37 PM
There is nothing that smells so good. Nothing. Not even roses in a warm spring shower, or a lover you want to jump NOW. Nothing smells as good as onions in bacon grease.
Imagine though... the lover you want to jump, *covered* in bacon grease, and with an onion in her mouth. Heh, am I wrong?
Posted by: Mike | May 26, 2008 10:43 PM
the lover you want to jump, *covered* in bacon grease, and with an onion in her mouth. Heh, am I wrong?
Yes, you're quite wrong. (see emphasis for how very wrong you are.)
However, when I hear "lover" and "bacon grease" all I can think is, "Ow. That's gotta burn!"
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 26, 2008 10:46 PM
Why does this guy's accent sound so similar to a Canadian accent, considering that there is a significant geographical separation between the two populations?
Is there a Nordic connection between the two manners of speech?
Posted by: DingoDave | May 26, 2008 10:56 PM
Why does this guy's accent sound so similar to a Canadian accent, considering that there is a significant geographical separation between the two populations?
???????????????????
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 26, 2008 10:59 PM
What science fiction novel is the word 'grock' taken from?
I recall reading the term 'grock it to the fullness' in one such book I read.
Was it 'Stranger in a Strange Land'?
Posted by: DingDave | May 26, 2008 11:00 PM
Ref. Comment #25:
"Why does this guy's accent sound so similar to a Canadian accent, considering that there is a significant geographical separation between the two populations?
???????????????????"
How embarassing. Back to 'Geography 101' for me!
For some reason, I got Minnesota mixed up with Missouri. That'll teach me for leaping before I looked.
Posted by: DingDave | May 26, 2008 11:10 PM
Another option with bony fish such as Northerns is pickling. Not to my taste but the bones essentially dissolve. Some love it (not me).
Posted by: rmp | May 26, 2008 11:14 PM
Yep. Shades o' Bob & Doug Mackenzie.
Of course, this is two guys from Toronto trying to sound like they come from Thunder Bay, but it's still pretty close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh4k3L0WrEE
Posted by: jrochest | May 26, 2008 11:17 PM
I never really could get into eating northern. I'm more of a trout and perch guy with the occasional walleye tossed in for good measure.
Of course, all my negative opinions about food can easily be offset with the right amount of beer.
Posted by: Dan | May 26, 2008 11:48 PM
This is pure sacrilege! What kind of dedicated backwoods fisherman uses an electric knife?
If we allow this kind of thing to be freely distributed on the internet, then as soon as we can say 'flibbertygibbet', we'll be finding ourselves asking the question; 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'?
Posted by: DingDave | May 26, 2008 11:49 PM
Norderns? Ya ya gotcha dere. Ya wan walleyes, dough. Dere bedder'n norderns, ya ya fer sure, eh. :)
Wad elsen ya wanna know 'bout Minnesota, eh?
Lutefisk an 'bout ever kinda udder fish. An easy ta catch, whad in alla dem dere lakes, eh! Oh ya ya!
Up ta da range, we was sayin' "eh" way 'fore Bob an' Doug, oh ya ya. Yupper talk is kinda close but nobody in cheeseheadland, er, 'Sconsin talks like we do, lessen dey's from 'ere, eh. Just so's ya knows. :)
Posted by: jeffox | May 27, 2008 12:17 AM
Well, as someone who ate more northern growing up that most people have eaten fish sticks, I can only repeat what my father taught me (although in all honesty had this fillet method been developed before he died he would have used it. With gusto.) "God put those bones in there to slow down people so they eat slow enough to appreciate how good it tastes."
The other thing to do with northern is pickle them. The acid softens those y bones right up.
Posted by: justawriter | May 27, 2008 12:21 AM
Oh ya, you betcha!
Posted by: James F | May 27, 2008 12:27 AM
Oh man, rural Minnesota? I'm from the cities and I still know how to do this! I grew up with a hunter in the house, complete with animal heads/bodies tacked up on the wall.
I knew how to skin deer and remove bones from fish before I was five. In fact, I think I have pictures of me covered in blood next to a skinned deer somewhere. I had to of been four at the time it was taken. It used to get a lot of strange looks from people who aren't used to the culture.
We're pretty crazy up here, but we sure love the outdoors.
Posted by: Felicia | May 27, 2008 12:31 AM
We're pretty crazy up here, but we sure love the outdoors.
Ya ya. I useta go ice fishin', eh - but I don' do dat no more 'cuz I don' like da tastea ice. :)
Posted by: jeffox | May 27, 2008 12:42 AM
Which remines me uvva story from a ways back when dis guy I knew from work was up ta Koronis spearin' norderns. We knew he wuz drinkin' too cuz he speared his own foot. Oh boy did we laugh at him da nex' day when he come in wit' dat cast on. :) Here he was more pissed dat he lost his new seven-tiner cuz dey hadda cut it inna pieces ta get it outta his foot! Fer sure happened like dat, eh!
Posted by: jeffox | May 27, 2008 12:49 AM
Shite, thanks for making me hungry for fish, PZ. It's the middle of the bloody night, mate. Sheesh!
Posted by: JM Inc. | May 27, 2008 2:29 AM
Mmmm! Sashimi!
Where does Laden stand on the proper temperature of saki, though?
Posted by: RupertG | May 27, 2008 4:32 AM
Ha, ya don't sound too different from us Yoopers!
I wonder, though... do ya Minnesoooda folks say sauna "saw-na" like most, or "sow-na" like we do here?
Either way, I guess it doesn't matter, eh?
Posted by: Eli | May 27, 2008 4:55 AM
Felicia (#35) "We're pretty crazy up here, but we sure love the outdoors."
Speaking of which, I just talked to my brother (who recently had to move to Tennessee), and he mentioned that, even though the climate there seems to be pretty close to ideal for gardening and other outdoor activities, nobody seems to much care to do them. While here in Michigan, everybody seems to crave a garden and wants to get outside. I guess it's largely a matter of wanting whatever is most difficult to get.
Posted by: Tim Eisele | May 27, 2008 6:07 AM
Looks to me like that process wastes a lot of good meat -- around the ribcages, along the y-bone, just below the gills.
Here in southern France we would just remove the intestines, then roast that sucker in the oven, head, tail, skin and all. With herbes de Provence sprinkled liberally over the skin, and a few slices of lemon and/or tomato there where the guts used to be.
The accent here is a little different, too...
Posted by: Joe Bob | May 27, 2008 6:53 AM
Oops, forgot the olive oil. Olive oil on the skin, before sprinkling it with the herbes.
Posted by: Joe Bob | May 27, 2008 6:58 AM
Oops, forgot the olive oil. Olive oil on the skin, before sprinkling it with the herbes.
plural? You can use more than one herb on a dish at a time?!
You're obviously not from Minnesota, where an allergy to flavor reigns.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 27, 2008 7:04 AM
DingDave, Correct. I'm reading the final chapter of it now, and was mighty surprised at seeing it here.
Posted by: stormen_per | May 27, 2008 7:17 AM
By some strange coincidence I was just looking at a site about great lakes fish a few minutes ago, which are "god eatin'", etc.
I found myself wondering just how healthy great lakes fish are to eat anymore... contaminant-wise.
Posted by: craig | May 27, 2008 7:31 AM
craig - not at all. New York has a list of fish that you should eat in small quantities or not ever, and it far exceeds the list of "eat anytime" fish. I went to one of the big fish hatcheries for Lake Ontario at salmon spawning time, and found out that they put all the dead fish into a landfill. Quite spectacular, watching them kill the fish coming in and throwing them into huge dumpsters. I asked why they didn't sell the fish or donate it to local food banks, and was told they couldn't handle the liability on heavy metal poisoning. So, there's a huge industry surrounding sport fishing in the Great Lakes, but you're really not supposed to eat any of it.
Posted by: Carlie | May 27, 2008 7:48 AM
RE# 34 by James F:
Tanks!
Saw Fargo when I lived in Salt Lake City and I was in hysterics...
It took me back to da Tundra, don't cha know, and the desert was far,far away right den...
As was the rest of the audience, which, I swear, was not laughing...
Yah, dey missed it, dere,
dey joost dinnit get it...
Posted by: Strakh | May 27, 2008 8:24 AM
Posted this to Greg's post but thought I'd put it here too. Hi dere, all you Minnesotans.
The dialect is called either Upper Midwestern or North Central American. As a MN native who has also lived in both the LP and UP of MI, I can speak both my native dialect and the Inland Northern American dialect which also covers upstate NY and is defined by the northern cities vowel shift.
See http://www.pbs.org/speak/ about the PBS program "Do You Speak American?" for more info on this accent.
Sorry, I was just teaching a unit on this in my grammar class.
Posted by: Faithful Reader | May 27, 2008 9:23 AM
Until this, everything I knew about Minnesota came from A Prairie Home Companion.
Posted by: Candiru | May 27, 2008 9:33 AM
What science fiction novel is the word 'grock' taken from?
I recall reading the term 'grock it to the fullness' in one such book I read. Was it 'Stranger in a Strange Land'? - DingDave
Yes, it comes from Heinlein's narcissistic fantasy, but it's "grok".
Posted by: Nick Gotts | May 27, 2008 9:37 AM
Be careful when you generalize about Canadian accents. There's a lot of us with distinct accents nothing like this fellow's. West coasters (like me) and East coasters sound very different than the stereotypical central Canadian accent. (I believe you're comparing a Central Canadian accent with this guy.)
It's like referring to an accent as 'American'. It's a little too broad to be accurate!
Posted by: gruggach | May 27, 2008 11:06 AM
it comes from Heinlein's narcissistic fantasy
You're still going to have to narrow that down a bit.
Posted by: Flamethorn | May 27, 2008 11:24 AM
gruggach:
So true. See North American English regional phonology
Posted by: jj | May 27, 2008 11:36 AM
Yo dere Eli!
Onna saana/sowna thingee dere, eh. . . dat all depens on iffen ya got Finlander buddies, eh. From whud I unnerstan' dem guys invented da durn t'ings, an' dey call 'em sownas. But ya can't tell dem durn udder guyzat cuz 'ey jus' don' lissen. Ya know, eh. . .
p.s. I hear dey got some good-size walleyes up ta Gogebic!
Posted by: jeffox | May 27, 2008 11:42 AM
Canadian accent, eh? I've had people ask me if I'm Canadian because I tend to shade "ou" into long O. Half the time when I say something like "about," it comes out more like "a boat." I haven't a clue where that came from - I've never lived in Canada or even close to it. I'm a southern Californian currently living in Pennsylvania. And trust me, southern Californians are the only people in the world who speak without an accent. :-)
My parents live near a road named "Northern Pike" in the Pittsburgh PA burbs. I never knew there was a fish with the same name until a few years ago.
LOL @ Flamethorn. So true!
And Red Green RAWKS! Duct tape 4ever!
Posted by: themadlolscientist | May 27, 2008 11:50 AM
Sometimes I miss living in the boonies of Minnesota. And then I walk three feet without getting a mosquito bite. And the feeling just sort of goes away.
Posted by: Esme | May 27, 2008 12:03 PM
In Minnesota, size doesn't matter? ;)
Posted by: windy | May 27, 2008 12:13 PM
I was born in Minnesota (Elbow Lake for any of you who know where that is) and most of my family lives there (Chokio, which is actually very close to Morris, small world and all that) and yet I still do not understand Minnesota culture. For one...why would ANYONE choose to live there? I mean, its fine to visit for a few weeks maybe stretching into months at a time but to put down roots? Gah.
Posted by: JRitter | May 27, 2008 12:23 PM
As a fourth generation resident of east-central Minnesota I have to chime in. Northerns are not easy to eat unless fileted well. Pickeled northerns are really good.
Mill Lacs lake is one of the most productive fisheries in the state. About 25 years ago a guy in his ice-fishing shack was spearing northerns. His black lab dog got real excited whenever he landed one.
He speared a big one that shook its way off the spear. The lab dove in to try to retrieve it.
The guy ran outside in a panic to try to figure out where his dog went. All of the sudden a terrified guy ran out the door of a nearby ice-fishing house. The dog came up out of his spear-fishing hole and really scared the resident.
Cal
Posted by: Cal Harth | May 27, 2008 12:57 PM
Sometimes I miss living in the boonies of Minnesota. And then I walk three feet without getting a mosquito bite. And the feeling just sort of goes away.
Ah, dusk in rural Minnesota. Time to get carried away....by mosquitoes as big as your fucking dog.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | May 27, 2008 1:03 PM
Maybe my ears have gone, but this fellow's accent wouldn't be terribly out of place in Edmonton.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | May 27, 2008 1:14 PM
And dude, Northern Pike is not the preferred nomenclature. Slough shark, please.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | May 27, 2008 1:20 PM
the good (?) thing about Ballard in Seattle is that it's really damn close to the small Minnesota town that I grew up in tchotchke-wise, food-wise, sassy old folks-wise.
I'm rather afraid to watch the video... I'll have to do it at home and not here at work just in case!
Posted by: bbcaddict | May 27, 2008 4:42 PM
Yo dere Cal!
Ya ya, I done heard dat one, too, eh!
Also, so's ya knows: In Minnesota, da fishin' culture is so endemic dat when dis guy fromma Cities catches da state record fish (108 pound lake sturgeon) it gets stole da nex' day! Honest ta gosh, eh!
Posted by: jeffox | May 27, 2008 5:08 PM
gruggach:
Perhaps I should have stated that I was raised in Saskatchewan. Having spent a couple of years in Wisconsin, his accent really does remind me of someone from Milwaukee faking a Canadian accent (ie, from Ontario and westward).
I should also note that there is very little variation in accent from Toronto to Vancouver. Seriously.
Posted by: skeptron | May 27, 2008 9:28 PM
gruggach:
Perhaps I should have stated that I was raised in Saskatchewan. Having spent a couple of years in Wisconsin, his accent really does remind me of someone from Milwaukee faking a Canadian accent (ie, from Ontario and westward).
I should also note that there is very little variation in accent from Toronto to Vancouver. Seriously.
Posted by: skeptron | May 27, 2008 9:31 PM
Oh Minnesota, how I miss thee. I'm stuck in Iowa for most of the summer. Hope to get back and get some fishing in up at the cabin though.
Posted by: Thomas | May 27, 2008 11:48 PM
"Be careful when you generalize about Canadian accents. There's a lot of us with distinct accents nothing like this fellow's."
There's a fair bit of variation among different parts of Minnesota too. This guy has what I think of as fairly standard Central Minnesotan. Further north it changes. The particular area I come from in southern MN seems to produce a fairly reliable Herb Brooks accent (the real one, not Kurt Russell's imitation). Jesse Ventura's accent makes me want to slug someone, since the few people I've met with that particular twang were all jackasses.
I'm 5th generation Minnesotan, by the way. If anyone figures out how to develop immunity to the giant pterodactyl skeeters, let me know.
Posted by: Helen | May 28, 2008 12:25 AM
"Yo dere Cal!
Jeffox,
"Ya ya, I done heard dat one, too, eh!
Also, so's ya knows: In Minnesota, da fishin' culture is so endemic dat when dis guy fromma Cities catches da state record fish (108 pound lake sturgeon) it gets stole da nex' day! Honest ta gosh, eh!"
Fishermen are liars, thieves, and lawbreakers. I don't mind. Politicians and preachers get away with it. Why not fishermen too?
Mother's day needs to get moved to a different date. The fishing season opener is more important. Likewise, people should not plan on anything for the weekend of deer hunting season opening. My mom should have changed her birthday.
Cal
Posted by: Cal Harth | May 28, 2008 12:10 PM
Did they actually do a play based on the Howard Mohr book?? Oh, for clever!
I borrowed that book from my Iowan aunt in order to try to prepare my (then) fiancée who'd never been out of CA for a trip to visit my Midwestern relations. I found that "How to Talk Minnesotan" better captured the way my Iowa relatives related to each other than the one she had about speaking Iowish.
Posted by: dwarf zebu | May 28, 2008 2:39 PM
Pert-near made me cry thinking about Michigan where I'm originally from and also where I went to pharmacy school. I guess I've been living in FL too long - people seemed so much more..."real" back in the day.
Maybe I just notice them more nowadays, but for whatever reason it seems I'm increasingly surrounded by "wet brains". I mean, a guy that I worked with REALLY believed ALL that creationist crap. And I mean ALL of it, really.
It was fascinating (and a bit scary) to listen to him talk about how "the scientist" (as if it was one individual) deliberately lied about "that carbon radio dating" so as to "deliberately advance his Darwinist world-view". The stream of BS literally gushed from this guy - I kind of miss him in a weird, stare-at-the-accident kind of way. Apparently all his material came from the Kent Hovind School of Reality ("life experience" credit available of course).
I mean - what the fuck? When did all this stupid shit happen? When did the inmates start running the asylum? I must have been asleep or preoccupied or something - one day I woke up, looked around, and found myself surrounded by Loud Speaking Idiots with Opinions. A potential presidential candidate saying he "didn't evolve from primates"? I mean, we used to LAUGH at these stupid people, and now they are "mainstream" and taken seriously? What the fuck?
Feeling out of touch, I started doing some research on this seemingly all-to-common warped "rationality" and I must say that stumbling across Dr. Myers' blog 'pharyngula' has given me hope that there are islands of sanity in this sea of madness.
So at least I've got that going for me.
Posted by: JerryT, FL | May 29, 2008 2:09 PM