It’s official.
I am truly a Northlander. Today, I uttered this sentence:
“I parked all kittywhompus because I was trying not to hit that cat in the alley. Oh, for stupid.”
It only took 9 years.
I am truly a Northlander. Today, I uttered this sentence:
“I parked all kittywhompus because I was trying not to hit that cat in the alley. Oh, for stupid.”
It only took 9 years.
Ya sure ewe betcha. Shuda taken just a few years fer most foreigners. Yup. Welcome. Come over for some hotdish and it’s official!
Now you just need to purge the word “Northlander” from your vocabulary.
“Northlander” is a media term, rarely, if ever, used by Duluthians.
As is “outstate.”
But what word to describe it’s official would she used if it wasn’t “Northlander”?
The reason people hate the word “northland” is it’s a term without a boundary. Where does the northland begin and end? If Duluth is in the northland, obviously Canada is too, right? And why wouldn’t most of Europe be, for that matter? Is Iowa in the northland?
Jessige is talking Minnesotan. I believe Howard Mohr established this many years ago.
Well, I moved south when I moved here, so I always thought “Northland” was curious term.
Iowa is known as the “Heartland.”
The lack of boundaries doesn’t bother me so much as the fact that no one actually says it except for local TV news personalities.
There’s North of 2, and there’s everywhere else.
Just the fact that you used the phrase “for stupid” proves you’re a northlander. If you start using “don’t no never mind” then you need to head out of town soon.
The “Northland”…for newscasters and carlots, apparently.
I tend to use it more when I write than speak, though. You betcha.
“Northland” is like “youngster.” Who says youngster, other than TV news people?
“Northland youngsters reported thunderstorm activity impacting area roadways.”
Some crappy little burg in the cities voted to make ‘Minnesotan’ their official language last night.
Oh, that is for cute!
A friend of mine, who lived here and graduated from here, moved to centeral Illinois near Peoria and when I would go to visit him, his friends who were from that area asked me “Where are you from?” “about 20 minutes from Duluth” “Ohh, do you like living in Canada?” WTF?!?! These were 20-something people, one of whom I was fairly sure had even went to college!
What college taught you how to spell “central,” RS?
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
As a Northland alum, when I hear the term Northland I think of the college, so it bother me on a whole ‘nother level when people use “Northland” to describe the entire region.
Although it should be said that Northland the college was named after Northland the region, so people were using the term as of the 1890s anyway.
It’s not just TV. Headline writers are not going to let “Northland” die, either. Although I think you’re less likely to see “Northlander” in a newspaper than you are to hear it on TV.
Ha ha, “for stupid.” Yes, this is true.
And, I’m really glad to see plenty of other people hate the term “Northland” for the same reasons I do!
Here’s what’s funny about “northlander”:
After I posted, I thought, “crap, that’s not right at all.” But I figured it was disingenuous to edit, considering the topic.
Guess you can take the girl out of sconnie, but you can’t take the sconnie out of the girl. Maybe I’m just a successful hybrid. Transplant? Graft?
What’s so bad about the term northland? It’s not as good as “da UP” or anything, but I kind of like it (I’m a transplant if that matters). Most Canadians live south of us. And what’s so bad about having vaguely inclusive borders? What should we call the region then?
I’m not a big fan of the term ‘northlander’, but Minnesotan doesn’t work so well either. In my experience, people from southern MN don’t embrace the culture. The accent and vocabulary is more of a northern thing, anyways.
As another Northland (the college) alum, I say people should quit being so damn anal about their terminology. Do we know what “Northlander” refers to in general? I think so. Now will someone please borrow me an ice auger for catching Northerns?
I do want to apologize to jessige for semi-hijacking the post. Also, I’d like to point out that you started a sentence with the word “crap,” which means you really do have the vocabulary down.
@ Paul, frankly my life is far too short to bother worrying about my spelling. Plus, you seemed to be able to understand what I said, but if you feel your life is better spent nitpicking others, then have at it. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
My point was that misspelling a word and not knowing where Duluth is are both pretty minor infractions. Perhaps I made that point poorly or failed to make it. Either way, we can agree that life is too short.
Oh, fer nice, Barrett. You didn’t have ta.
Here’s something: Around here we say “kittywampus,” but elsewhere they say “cattywampus.” Kittywampus gets no results on dictionary.com, but cattywampus does, as it’s a variant of catawampus. Huh.