I'm from South Africa and married a mid-western lady. She says the whole, "if you don't want to, you don't have to", all the time. The key is listening to the seriousness of her tone.
I never realized how Midwestern I was until I joined the Army. Southerners, West Coasters, East Coasters, etc. had no idea what I was saying half the time lol
We're from Los Angeles. When my daughter was in the Navy everyone thought she talked like The Californians on SNL. (I understand Midwesterners just fine and would love to live there, but can't take those Winters!)
Add the “ope it’s time to head out” then you stand by the door with your winter gear on only to continue chatting for over an hour and you start to warm up too much then you walk outside and they continue to follow you and talk to you. You get in your car and drive away and they are there at the end of the driveway still waving at you…. Classic MN goodbyes
If not for that Midwestern parties would literally never end. No one wants to be rude and leave first. We're all waiting for the icebreaker. If there isn't one in attendance the party just goes on and on and on making the owners of the house very angry.
I always liked when the leaving soon, goes so long you have to spend the night. It got so when I went to certain friends I'd put extra food out for the cats, have the neighbors feed the dog and let him out if I wasn't homes before dark.then if the car isn't there the next morning to feed and let out the dog agsin. Plus I'd throw a couple pillow and blankets in the car and xtra clothes just in case.
No joke… I moved from the Midwest to Texas and well Grocery store is less than 5 blocks from me and I always hit my wife (Texan) with the “welp I spose we better go into town and get them groceries cause I’m ready for bed and I won’t wanna do it tomorrow” to which she replies “babe, we literally live in town”.
On our SECOND date, my future husband gave me an oil filter for my car. Most girls get chocolate or flowers, I got an oil filter. My dad said, he's thinking about you. Go Midwest Bros.
A date (and I’m using the term in its loosest possible way) once gave me a battery for the remote on my gas fireplace. And he’d never even been in my house.
Heading out to the mail box in flannel pajama bottoms and a parka, coffee in hand, and sayin, “good mernin” to your neighbor who is dressed the same….thats midwest. Much love from the south shore of Lake Erie
Also adding s to the end of everything, Krogers, meijers. In Michigan you are always going up to or down to, somewhere even if it's east or west of where you are.
My parents always had two maps in the car on trips around Michigan -- one was for the kids in the back seat, so we couldn't ask how long; only "where are we?" if we weren't paying attention. Still, our house faced east, and to this day, I struggle to show my husband google maps of Grand Rapids because I always think they are sideways. Everywhere outside of GR, cardinal directions work.
My favorite word from growing up in rural NE. Pertnear. Like that was pertnear a car accident. Word I didn't know was weird til I moved to a bigger city.
I grew up near the Illinois/ Wisconsin border and pertnear was in common usage. That was in the fifties and sixties though. Don't hear it anymore, thanks for reminding me, I pertnear forgot.
The smile and nod to people you pass on the street or in the store; or in the road (possibly combined with variations of finger/hand acknowledging as well). And holding doors open for anyone and everyone.
@@zr3755 true and sad..No care for Europeans’ indigenous lands. They love imperialism and colonization and trampling on indigenous people’s rights as long as it’s them doing it to us.
Distance doesn't matter. If you go 5 miles through town = 20 mins; 5 miles down I-90 = 4 minutes. If you need to know what time to leave, you base it on time.
Here in Maine locals will also give directions by landmarks. More often than not the land mark is no longer there. " Take a left at the old Esso station"
@@jonathandonley3299 Not me, in rural Illinois it's miles. Time is irrelevant because there is no traffic or "gapers delays" As far as landmarks for directions, spot on in rural Illinois. Ex. Go West of town to the three mile toolhouse and go North to the Tee and turn left.
Today, my husband asked me, "Do you want tacos for dinner? Or would you rather have spaghetti?" I said, "We can have spaghetti...unless you wanted tacos, the that's fine too,not trying to cause a problem..." we've been married 20 years. He still doesn't understand.
I just cant help but think the mid west was the area where a lot of scandinavian people settled. All these things you describe are standard social traits in scandinavia.
In Illinois, or at least in the Chicago dialect, if you pass a car accident and slow down to stare at it, you are not rubbernecking. You are gaping. If there is a backup due to everyone doing that, it's called a gapers delay.
Being from Alabama and traveling all over I totally understand brother! When I talk people are like what did you say??!?! 😂 I love meeting people from all over our great country stay safe God bless
OMG. “Uffda”! You brought back a flood of memories with just that one word. Dad was from Fargo, his mom was from Halstead MN. I used to say it when I lifted my children.
I'm from New Zealand but have been living in Kansas for almost 15 years. I've definitely become more Midwestern than I thought! I literally do every one of these 😂
After living in California for a couple years, as soon as moved back to Nebr, I went for a drive in the country just to see and get that "hey" with the (index) ☝🏼 finger. Such a simple, familiar greeting. Put a smile on my face 😁
@@ronaldrobertson2332 my wife is always like “why did you put your finger up without even taking your hand of the steering wheel and wave stoically at every single other truck or car you pass even though you have no idea who they are.
I say “aw jeez” a lot. Also I take the letter G out of the end of a lot of words like “ya know I’ve been listenin to this podcast” or “Aw jeez I’m tryin ta get somewhere here”
I learned first hand southerners don’t appreciate the magic of “ope lemme sneak by” when a guy looked at me stepped in my way and said “not sure if you’ve heard we use excuse me in the US”. Boy did I wanna let him know how wrong he was but of course to avoid confrontation I realized I was in the wrong isle.
You missed an opportunity to reply to that southerner in language they will undoubtedly understand clearly.. "What adorable unsolicited advice, Bless your heart!! (Also Get the fuck out of my way).. ...But I'm a FIB so .....😋😁👍
I'm from the east coast but my dad was born and raised in the midwest. I have picked up some of these things from him. I can speak the midwest equivalent of "spanglish" lol. I get corrected constantly when I say soda instead of pop. But I am fluent in burying emotions and trying very very very hard to not inconvenience someone when asking for a favor, for instance. I also measure distance in terms of time.
I'm originally from Cleveland and now live in the Chicago area and I didn't recognize any of that. But a few things we do are... Put an " 's " to everything. Like the store Aldi (Aldi's) or Giant Eagle (Giant Eagle's) or Jewel Osco/Jewel Osco's-which is Albertson's(their actual name) elsewhere. We tend to use "at" at the end of sentences. Where's my keys at? We have mixed feelings about snow. It's either we have a BBQ when it snows 10 inches or we are allergic to it and head to Florida. We tend to take football and other sports more seriously. And last, but not least... We call it "pop". 😂 Update... We say "Remember?". This is loosely translated as "Hey dumbass! Don't ya remember what I just told you 5 minutes ago?". One major difference between Cleveland and Chicago is how they measure street blocks. Cleveland blocks vary in length, but "two blocks over"= two streets over. Chicago's blocks... One block equals 2 streets. There are 8 blocks to a mile, but usually more than 8 streets in that mile. And south side blocks are longer. Especially the numbered streets. And there's the "street" and the "place" with the same number. Example: 21st ave and 21st pl.
okay so I don't know what goes through other folks heads, but if some one is asking: "would you like to go out to dinner?" my "yeah, no" is extended in my brain to mean - yeah = oh wow thank you so much for asking that's really nice; and the no = i have just actually processed what you said to me and i just want to curl up at home in front of the fire and read because people are too much in the middle of winter sometimes. thank you so much for the offer though or some equivalent. the first response is trying to be polite, while giving your brain time to actually process the question. at least for me. also there is a whole lot of these tendencies that are super similar in Nordic countries.
You forgot the Midwest total opposite of the South's meaning of, "Bless your heart!" In the Midwest we mean, "Aw, man! I am so sorry you had that bad thing happen/you're going through such a tough time/you have done such a wonderful thing (for yourself or others)!"
Actual definitions of those terms: Dinner is the main meal; supper is the last meal. That's why Sunday dinner is midday. When my Brazilian colleagues visited the US for meetings, they told me my team wasn't feeding them a proper dinner at midday.
From a New Zealander, we are also famous for starting a response with “Yeah , nah….” FYI: “Yeah, Nah” usually means “No”, “Nah, Yeah” usually means Yes. But not always. Tone and cadence is critical. “Yeah, nah, yeah” means 1) Maybe, or 2) Still Maybe, but I don’t want to annoy you with my indecision, so I’m stalling for time. “Yeah, nah, yeah ….. nah …..” is Ive forgotten what the question is.
Here in Il, at least Chicago, you might hear someone say “just take it witch-a”. This is used when speaking about whether or not a person should take something along.
so funny when I lived in the Twin Cities & worked in the grocery business at CUB FOODS right after high school, I was saying OPE all the time. plus I totally relate to the bar stuff, we used to shoot pool (badly) & just drink beer after beer after beer. I never got pulled over HAHAHAHa I live in Missouri now - technically the mid-west but no where as nice as up north. miss you guys : )
As someone born and raised in WI, I love watching these videos cause it’s fun to imagine someone from Texas or somewhere taking this class cause they’re moving and want to be able to talk to the locals! lol
I've been speaking Midwest all my life as I grew up in Chicago & I think I aquired that accent. Even when my parents & I moved to California, I was told I "talked funny".😊
@@wegotgame But we still have to watch our language when referring to particular condensed powder combustion behind aerodynamically designed metal pellets
Even though I was born in Minnesota but moved to the east coast when I was around 5, it was still enough time where I picked up all of these and still do them 40 years later.
You forgot the "two vehicles meeting on a rural blacktop" wave where both drivers lift their index and middle finger off of the steering wheel, without releasing said steering wheel, and flicking them sharply forward and to the right. Yes, the "farmer wave" is alive and well in the rural Tri-state area of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. 😉
I've lived in Milwaukee, Lacrosse, and up north in Rhinelander. It's been bubbler all over the state! I refuse to use the term water fountain unless it's something in the middle of a mall and I'm throwing quarters into it and making a wish!
I use "kitty corner" when I'm talkin something diagonal across the street. I picked it up from my folks. (I'm from IND and had to move to ILL for work many years ago 😒). I had to explain the meaning to someone in ILL. Is that a midwest thing or a south thing?
I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life and we say many of these things. We say pop for a soft drink, tennis shoes for any athletic shoes, Kleenex for facial tissues and we use time to describe distance of travel instead of mileage.
As a native Nebraskan, I can confirm they are called pickle cards. Come to think of it, that is the only place I’ve ever heard that term.😮 another Midwest word you forgot is crick…not CREEEEK. Crick. Lol
Never thought of Utah as the Midwest until I saw videos like this. Quite similar here. But we don't prononouce T's... nice mounains, with a lot of wader in em.
Wow! This is all so true😅 I unfortunately got moved out of northern Wisconsin to Indiana 24 years ago, but my goodness all of this still describes me to a T!!! It makes me happy when coworkers still notice my accent after all this time away😁
Born and bred Minnesota. I’ve noticed some of the usual things attributed to Minnesotans aren’t said in the Twin Cities area, more in the rural parts. I will apologize for everything, like any good midwesterner. But I say, “Oops, sorry” I have never used the word “ope” in my life. Never heard anyone in my family use it either.
Its odd that the midwest gets put in this huge box. I was born in Kansas, and raised in Missouri. I've never encountered anyone using "ope". Even the accent, it can't be bunched up into a singular dialect, because there are multiple accents throughout the entire midwest. Maybe it should be differentiated by saying something like "northern midwest", "midwest", or "southern midwest"? I don't know. But even the "pop" thing, we used to say that as kids, but once we got older it turned into us saying "soda", at least for most people. Honestly, its both funny and irritating when I say I'm from the midwest and people instantly think im from Minnesota or Wisconsin, yet I don't sound like I'm from there. I already have to explain that I grew up in the Missouri part of Kansas City, and not Kansas. 😂
I have a MSG, who's from North Carolina, teaching our ROTC class in Southern Illinois. He loves to mention how the way we bottle up our hatred for someone is insane.
My parents have a feud with the neighbors. The curtains can't take it anymore. They have a bird feeder in front just so they can say they are watching the birds...
Don't forget "real quick once." "Can you help me move the couch real quick once?" "I'm gonna run this over to Barb's real quick once." We're all about the illusion of speed and efficiency
I never knew exactly what “whippin shitties” meant aside from it being something with a car and I’ve just been using it regularly when talking about my driving, so it’s nice to know the proper way to use it now. I will not change my use of it at all.
It's just too damn accurate. I've been out of my midwest natural habitat for too long now. Might be time to head back where maybe people will understand me.
That's a regional distinction. Pop is more to the west all the way into Minnesota. Soda is more hugging lake Michigan side of the state. Same with water fountain and bubbler. I'm not exactly sure the line of demarcation, Maybe Wasau or Steven's Point, probably more Oshkosh to Fond du Lac.
You give your buddy a out when you invite him to go ice fishing so he doesn’t feel obligated to go do his favorite activity with his best friend of 40 years and drink beer your wife got you
I'm not sure if that one's made it to Illinois yet. Cuz if you say that to me I'm going to give you 2 or 3 batteries. You ain't getting 4. You didn't say 4. To be fair Illinois is its own special little case I think.
So a couple years ago I was in Portland OR visiting a cousin. His next door neighbor is from the north burbs of Chicago and I'm from the west suburbs of Chicago. Now this lady has lived there 30 plus years. So we are on the deck talking about something and she says " I haven't that in a long time" . To this day I do not know what I said but it was definitely a Midwestern word or two that made her smile.
In Missouri we don't say ope but I'm pretty sure I say let me sneak right past ya every time I'm at the grocery store. Also instead of saying hello we we say "how ya doing?" Which is almost always replied with "good, you?"
The word “across” must be spoken with a “t” at the end: “I went acrost the street to get a pop.” Bonus points for adding an “r” to the word, “wash”: “ope, the warshing machine has gone catty-whampus again”.
My mom would say the "warsh" thing to the point it annoyed my dad -- because he heard his mother, a native Texan, say it that way...plus he could be a pedantic, holier-than-thou arsehole. (Yes, I'm borrowing a Brit term, just bc it's fun, and I'm a shameless Anglophile). 😜
There's the classic "Ya... I don't know" that is commonly used to end awkward or uncomfortable conversations..... EDIT.... There is no pause between "Ya" and "I".... It is a single word.... "Yi"... Credit to @zr3755 for the correction.
So in Nebraska before 'pull tabs' were legal, bars would get ahold of some and dump them in a old washed out pickled egg jar, That way they could easily be hidden if need be.
I've been a midwesterner my whole life and I noticed a large majority of people don't say goodbye, they just "spose. RIght before they get ready to go after the 15 minute goodbye session they just say "well I 'spose" and then go on there way.
May seem obvious to many, but one thing i didnt catch was the mention of the use of the word "hey". Wisconinite and i use it all the time and don't even know it. Starting a sentence, finishing a sentence, whenever.
Crick for creek, deleting “ing” and replacing with “in” and do not forget you can talk to strangers about the weather for a lonnnnggg time if you can’t think of anything else! And my personal favorite-blinker fluid, didj ya forget yur blinker fluid?!
I am from TX. We definitely have a different dialect for sure - yeah, no, yeah down here would get you a "bless your heart". BUT our small talk rules are exactly the same and there is no such thing as leaving quickly. Our goodbyes can be just as long.
You forgot "welp", especially at gatherings it signals that you're about to leave or that everyone else needs to leave.
Only after you have smacked both of your thighs and stood up
Oh the Midwest goodbye need a video of its own. It’s a process. 😂
Welp *knee slap* I suppose *stand up*
oh common buddy just one more
That person's a hero, because then I can say "Welp, I think I'll head out wicha"
You forgot 1 important thing, distance traveled is measured in time, not miles
It isn't 30 miles away, its 30 minutes away
He explained that in another video I believe, that or it was Charlie
This is actually true as hell
Are there really places where they talk about how many miles away a place is instead of minutes/hours?
It's right down the street
- ok? How far is it?
... Oh I dunno? Like 20 minutes?
@@GeorgeJefferson-h7w I know. Scandalous. Truth is stranger than fiction.
I'm from South Africa and married a mid-western lady. She says the whole, "if you don't want to, you don't have to", all the time. The key is listening to the seriousness of her tone.
Yep, gotta master reading in between the lines. If my wife says something like that, I'll usually opt to do whatever it is right away, lol.
100%! In the Midwest we will ask you to do things that we're not really asking you to do we're telling you to do but we just don't want to be rude.
@@djrandyificationthat is usually a good idea. I say as a Midwestern wife hahaha
Lekke vibes bra. God help you convincing them a braai is better than a bbq
Yup....same words. Different tone. Watch out!
The weather is always the perfect topic for a conversation because we know the weather 2 hours from now might be a different season from right now.
Nebraska: "If'n you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."
And compare the current weather pattern to the last time you saw that weather pattern. Classic.
Sports as well!
You absolutely have to mention the Halloween blizzard of 1998 too.
@@dracofirex Ugh! Don't make me have to hurt you for those unpleasant memories!
One of the most common phrases I hear living in the Midwest:
“It would be really nice out without this damn wind”
you forgot the second part of that, "But, at least it's not snowing"
Or humidity 😂
Or humidity
Yes
I just said that this morning! All of it! 😂
I never realized how Midwestern I was until I joined the Army. Southerners, West Coasters, East Coasters, etc. had no idea what I was saying half the time lol
I'm not talking shit just curious of where your Midwest is??
When I joined, my Alabama buddy pointed out the word Oil to me. or rather to him "Ole" and to midwesterner "Oyal"
@@DravenRedrumMy ex from Bahamas said “oral”. I had a heck of a time figuring that out at first.
@@marcilk7534 so cars needing Oral would have been an interesting conversation huh
We're from Los Angeles. When my daughter was in the Navy everyone thought she talked like The Californians on SNL. (I understand Midwesterners just fine and would love to live there, but can't take those Winters!)
Add the “ope it’s time to head out” then you stand by the door with your winter gear on only to continue chatting for over an hour and you start to warm up too much then you walk outside and they continue to follow you and talk to you. You get in your car and drive away and they are there at the end of the driveway still waving at you…. Classic MN goodbyes
I spose
If not for that Midwestern parties would literally never end. No one wants to be rude and leave first. We're all waiting for the icebreaker. If there isn't one in attendance the party just goes on and on and on making the owners of the house very angry.
I always liked when the leaving soon, goes so long you have to spend the night. It got so when I went to certain friends I'd put extra food out for the cats, have the neighbors feed the dog and let him out if I wasn't homes before dark.then if the car isn't there the next morning to feed and let out the dog agsin. Plus I'd throw a couple pillow and blankets in the car and xtra clothes just in case.
Phone calls with a friend are the same thing - several "Well, I gotta go", before someone actually hangs up. lol
@@rhondaflesher8313 Actually my mom, who was a Minneapolis girl, always said, "well, I'll let you go."
Oh, no matter where you live in the MW, if you have to go somewhere to shop...you gotta go into town.
Oh my, I said this to a colleague because I needed batteries for my mouse and she fell off her chair laughing.
Hitch up them horses!
No joke… I moved from the Midwest to Texas and well
Grocery store is less than 5 blocks from me and I always hit my wife (Texan) with the “welp I spose we better go into town and get them groceries cause I’m ready for bed and I won’t wanna do it tomorrow” to which she replies “babe, we literally live in town”.
Amazon
I mean, I'm literally in midtown of a midsized city in the middle of the midwest. I'm already in town. (I just say which neighborhood I'm going to)
On our SECOND date, my future husband gave me an oil filter for my car. Most girls get chocolate or flowers, I got an oil filter. My dad said, he's thinking about you. Go Midwest Bros.
I got a set of Pyrex for giving birth to our first kid; a vacuum cleaner for the second. LOL
My husband changed my wiper blades early on. This is how Midwest men show their love.
A date (and I’m using the term in its loosest possible way) once gave me a battery for the remote on my gas fireplace. And he’d never even been in my house.
That is the most romantic thing I've ever heard!!!!! ❤😍❤🥰 ♥
I got a router for my birthday.
When someone gets to your house always ask what roads they took to get there 😂
I never of that but YES!
That's so true
I think we do that because we want to recommend the route we've found to be fastest.
Then tell them how wrong of a route they took.
“Hey how was the Dan Ryan?” 😂
Heading out to the mail box in flannel pajama bottoms and a parka, coffee in hand, and sayin, “good mernin” to your neighbor who is dressed the same….thats midwest. Much love from the south shore of Lake Erie
🙋♀️ we ( me? ) do that here in North Idaho too💙 🌨🌬❄️☃️
I always find myself saying "ope sorry" in the grocery store when I realize I'm blocking someone's path with my cart 😂
Same, Midwest native of 28 years and now live in west Texas, people tell me “you have an accent” and “why do you say nope without the N” 😂
@@UnknownUser-fe5zu 😂 I love it!
“Ope.. Excuse me”
“Ope before sorry, but not after jeez”
ua-cam.com/video/qb_-taYLRfY/v-deo.htmlsi=8bGuwxaa9mS5sYwf
100% Same here lol
Also adding s to the end of everything, Krogers, meijers.
In Michigan you are always going up to or down to, somewhere even if it's east or west of where you are.
And random Rs to words. Like wash. I hate hearing half of the people I live near say the word wash because they add an r! There is no r in wash!
Penney's. Sherbert. Warsh. Norter Dame. Pop. Ending sentences with prepositions.
@@MamaMOByes there is.
Oh my God, thank you! To this day, I have issues with East/West directions because we simply never used them.
My parents always had two maps in the car on trips around Michigan -- one was for the kids in the back seat, so we couldn't ask how long; only "where are we?" if we weren't paying attention. Still, our house faced east, and to this day, I struggle to show my husband google maps of Grand Rapids because I always think they are sideways. Everywhere outside of GR, cardinal directions work.
My favorite word from growing up in rural NE. Pertnear. Like that was pertnear a car accident. Word I didn't know was weird til I moved to a bigger city.
As a native rural Nebraskan, I agree! My mom still says that word from time to time But I have never once heard it here in Denver.
I grew up near the Illinois/ Wisconsin border and pertnear was in common usage. That was in the fifties and sixties though. Don't hear it anymore, thanks for reminding me, I pertnear forgot.
Wow that's when I haven't heard in Illinois since the '80s!
I think it’s spelled ‘purtnear”. Former hoosier
Grew up in WI.
We allis set pritnear.
(Always said, "pritnear")
"Spoze" (I Suppose)... E.X. 'Welp, [ knee slap ], Spoze I should get out there and mow the yard.'
another one from growing up..."welp, that hay ain't cutting itself"
Then there is the flip side, "Spouse not".
You forgot the goodbyes, where you slap your knee and say welp and then proceed to bs for another hour before actually leaving
My kids hate this phenomenon.
@@GoingGreenMom I did too then I became an adult. You just start doing it
FIlipinos do the same thing here in Cali (but without the knee slapping). I am told it takes at least an hour to leave a gathering.
@@giraffesinc.2193Three to six hours.
From Iowa but have been held captive in NYS for 35 yrs . It's good to hear normal people talking. You betcha!
Tak, no l.
The smile and nod to people you pass on the street or in the store; or in the road (possibly combined with variations of finger/hand acknowledging as well).
And holding doors open for anyone and everyone.
It feels so rude to not acknowledge the other person with at least a nod haha
Also important to note, Yeah, no, yeah can also mean "yes, definitely/obviously"
I always thought it was whatever you ended on. You start with you and you go until you get back to the one you want.
And “no, yeah, no” is like, “definitely no,” or “I am quite sure that the answer is no.” 😂
I feel a connection to midwesteners Im a swede, we act similar.
Hey, cousin! Lots of Swedes in the Midwest!
We're all Swedish somewhere down the line in MN
@@zr3755 Except all the Somalis
@@erin6083 Just like Sweden nowadays as well
@@zr3755 true and sad..No care for Europeans’ indigenous lands. They love imperialism and colonization and trampling on indigenous people’s rights as long as it’s them doing it to us.
We would rather suffer alone than make someone do something they don't want to do... This is soooo on point 😂
giving directions in time not distance is my favorite.
Distance,no ya we only do time
Distance,no ya we only do time
Wait, isn't that how to do it?!
@@twentynineteen4687Seriously, is this unusual?
Distance doesn't matter. If you go 5 miles through town = 20 mins; 5 miles down I-90 = 4 minutes. If you need to know what time to leave, you base it on time.
The long good bye. ‘Well we should get goin…45 minutes later….well we should think about heading out.
Don't forget the "er, no's".
Me: "So are we goin' to Kwik Trip now, er no?"
I made the mistake of asking my toddler, "are you coming er not"? I hadn't intended to offer "not" as an option, but that was her answer. 😂
@@amyellen3845😂😂
Now I wanna go to the Kwik Trip and get some glazers!
Kwik Trip won me over last year, I must admit. Those chocolate muffins....
Where I live, it's Kwik Star. Huge cultural differences here in the Midwest.
Also, giving directions by landmarks as well as time. About 10min take the bend at Runsa Hut then past the old Miller farm bout 10min...
Here in Maine locals will also give directions by landmarks. More often than not the land mark is no longer there. " Take a left at the old Esso station"
Yes. In Illinois, distance is measured by time.
@@jonathandonley3299 Not me, in rural Illinois it's miles. Time is irrelevant because there is no traffic or "gapers delays" As far as landmarks for directions, spot on in rural Illinois. Ex. Go West of town to the three mile toolhouse and go North to the Tee and turn left.
In MI, explaining where a city/town is, we throw up our hand and point at it. Most out-staters just look confused.
I even say ope sorry to my dog when its totally his fault
I once apologized to a mannequin in a store that I bumped into. “Ope, sorry about that.” My friends looked at me as though I was bonkers. 😂
I've caught myself apologizing to a lamp I knocked in to.
Today, my husband asked me, "Do you want tacos for dinner? Or would you rather have spaghetti?" I said, "We can have spaghetti...unless you wanted tacos, the that's fine too,not trying to cause a problem..." we've been married 20 years. He still doesn't understand.
What he doesn't understand is, "please get spaghetti."
@@jvallas exactly.
🤣🤣🤣
I just cant help but think the mid west was the area where a lot of scandinavian people settled. All these things you describe are standard social traits in scandinavia.
Yep, that would be correct. The Midwest is primarily German and Scandinavian decent.
That is correct, most scandinavians settled in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin when they came to the US
I was once told by a guy from Norway that there are more Norwegians in Minnesota than there are in Norway so...
Yes the Midwest is extremely Middle European.
My grandparents came to Illinois from Norway in 1896.
In Illinois, or at least in the Chicago dialect, if you pass a car accident and slow down to stare at it, you are not rubbernecking. You are gaping. If there is a backup due to everyone doing that, it's called a gapers delay.
Where i live in michigan we say gawking.
That's a "gawker slowdown" in MN.
gapers...never heard that one...we called them "idiots"
I've never heard anybody around here say Gaper. 😂
In Boston, it's a gawker-blocker, pronounced gawkah-blohkah. 😂
"if you can't or don't want to I completely understand"
Being from Alabama and traveling all over I totally understand brother! When I talk people are like what did you say??!?! 😂 I love meeting people from all over our great country stay safe God bless
Uffda....a Minnesota classic
Ok Ole and Lena!!!!
OMG. “Uffda”! You brought back a flood of memories with just that one word. Dad was from Fargo, his mom was from Halstead MN. I used to say it when I lifted my children.
Grew up around my Minnesotan grandfather. I say uff-da multiple times a day
As in uffda she kicked me in the dupa 😎
Does every car load of city dwellers yell MOOOOOO, whenever they pass a cow or two?
Always remember to announce “welp I should get going now” AT LEAST 30 mins before you actually should get going. If not your gonna be late.
Lmao 😂
Every city, regardless of size, is referred to as a town. Example: “Does he live in town here?” and the town being referred to is Omaha.
Lol … yes! Absolutely true. 😂
Hey! I live in town! Wanna get pickles?! Gotta support the church!
Get some pickle tickets at the Holy Name fish fry?
In MN the exception is the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St Paul). This area is "The Cities" and everything else is a town
South Dakota all are Cities, even places as small as Pukwana or Oacoma. Only a town if you are in an unincorporated township.
I'm from New Zealand but have been living in Kansas for almost 15 years. I've definitely become more Midwestern than I thought! I literally do every one of these 😂
Yur makin' good choices today.
Ya forgot the Midwest wave at an intersection. Anyone who doesn’t give ya the wave to go you know isn’t from the Midwest.
Raise the pointy finger of the steering wheel.
Even just passin on the street (cept when theres moren 4-5 cars, like in town. I remember askin Dad "Who was that?". Reply- I dont know😊
In the South everyone just waits for everyone else to go without waving.
It's changing now, unfortunately.
After living in California for a couple years, as soon as moved back to Nebr, I went for a drive in the country just to see and get that "hey" with the (index) ☝🏼 finger. Such a simple, familiar greeting. Put a smile on my face 😁
@@ronaldrobertson2332 my wife is always like “why did you put your finger up without even taking your hand of the steering wheel and wave stoically at every single other truck or car you pass even though you have no idea who they are.
I say “aw jeez” a lot. Also I take the letter G out of the end of a lot of words like “ya know I’ve been listenin to this podcast” or “Aw jeez I’m tryin ta get somewhere here”
saves time droppin the g
Sounds danish to me.
I always do too. And I usually drop the L out of always.
I learned first hand southerners don’t appreciate the magic of “ope lemme sneak by” when a guy looked at me stepped in my way and said “not sure if you’ve heard we use excuse me in the US”. Boy did I wanna let him know how wrong he was but of course to avoid confrontation I realized I was in the wrong isle.
proper response to that is, "Ope sowry about that buddy. Please excuse me"
You missed an opportunity to reply to that southerner in language they will undoubtedly understand clearly..
"What adorable unsolicited advice, Bless your heart!! (Also Get the fuck out of my way)..
...But I'm a FIB so .....😋😁👍
As a tiny little woman I'd have to show him why most other states think Chicagoans are dicks.
@@1ListerofSmegoooohhh I'm not sure about that. Bless your heart might be fighting words down south!
Also a FIB!
@@MamaMOB ...That IS the idea😜
(& they started it anyway🙄 )
FA (W the FIBs) & FO
Youze guys did a great job.
Milwaukee!
I busted out laughing about pointing out animals by shouting their names 😆😆😆😆 My non-midwestern husband HATES when I do this
Whenever I see cows I always let out a hearty mooooo!
It's a difficult sentiment to respond to. 😏
@@peony519 same
You just nod and smile 🤷 @@jvallas
@@peony519 I combine the two; I say, "Moooo cooowwwws!"
I'm from the east coast but my dad was born and raised in the midwest. I have picked up some of these things from him. I can speak the midwest equivalent of "spanglish" lol. I get corrected constantly when I say soda instead of pop. But I am fluent in burying emotions and trying very very very hard to not inconvenience someone when asking for a favor, for instance. I also measure distance in terms of time.
I'm originally from Cleveland and now live in the Chicago area and I didn't recognize any of that.
But a few things we do are...
Put an " 's " to everything. Like the store Aldi (Aldi's) or Giant Eagle (Giant Eagle's) or Jewel Osco/Jewel Osco's-which is Albertson's(their actual name) elsewhere.
We tend to use "at" at the end of sentences. Where's my keys at?
We have mixed feelings about snow. It's either we have a BBQ when it snows 10 inches or we are allergic to it and head to Florida.
We tend to take football and other sports more seriously.
And last, but not least...
We call it "pop". 😂
Update...
We say "Remember?".
This is loosely translated as "Hey dumbass! Don't ya remember what I just told you 5 minutes ago?".
One major difference between Cleveland and Chicago is how they measure street blocks.
Cleveland blocks vary in length, but "two blocks over"= two streets over.
Chicago's blocks... One block equals 2 streets. There are 8 blocks to a mile, but usually more than 8 streets in that mile.
And south side blocks are longer. Especially the numbered streets. And there's the "street" and the "place" with the same number. Example: 21st ave and 21st pl.
Don't forget Meijer's
100% the effort we go to avoid inconvenience inconveniencing people
As someone from Northern Ontario I hear these almost every day
Yer welcome der bud.
I'm from Alberta. It's the same here
Southern Ontario is the same too tbh we do most of this shit
As someone from Eastern Ontario, he's missing the 'get'r dun'
Because Oilberta is freaking mint, home to Peg Leg aka Zip ties n bias plies.@@nathangoode1089
okay so I don't know what goes through other folks heads, but if some one is asking:
"would you like to go out to dinner?"
my "yeah, no" is extended in my brain to mean -
yeah = oh wow thank you so much for asking that's really nice; and the
no = i have just actually processed what you said to me and i just want to curl up at home in front of the fire and read because people are too much in the middle of winter sometimes. thank you so much for the offer though
or some equivalent. the first response is trying to be polite, while giving your brain time to actually process the question. at least for me.
also there is a whole lot of these tendencies that are super similar in Nordic countries.
Okay, I'm having this woven into a welcome mat.
This is spot on!
You forgot the Midwest total opposite of the South's meaning of, "Bless your heart!" In the Midwest we mean, "Aw, man! I am so sorry you had that bad thing happen/you're going through such a tough time/you have done such a wonderful thing (for yourself or others)!"
...what does that mean in the south?
@@SirYodaJediThey are calling you stupid lowkey
I think that’s correct - it’s meant with sincerity. If you want to insult someone in the Midwest, you just go ahead and call them a FIB.
@@ElderStatesman-pi3lc Don't forget FIBWAB (with a boat).
But I dunno, I usually go with Cheesehead. ;)
Don't forget the midwest's favorite phrase, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes.
Lol … yep. Wednesday morning (2 days ago) it was 75 degrees out. By that evening, it was snowing! (Kansas)
@@gwynthegnome2050 Also in KS. Can confirm.
And don't forget that each one of our states coined it. Separately.
@@gwynthegnome2050last week in Illinois I went to bed with it being 28° and woke up to it being 70.
I'm an escapee from the West Coast, I came to the great heartland of the Middle West and I'll never ever go back. Have a nice day.
Love this, never heard it called the middle west lol.
The last meal of the day is “supper”. On Sunday 2nd meal is called dinner, but every other day of the week it’s called lunch.
In the south supper is 7 days a week and dinner ‘could’ be said in place of supper but dinner is lunch.
yup - Sunday Dinner - Supper was always the evening meal.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner. What the hell is supper?
"Supper" is dinner when "dinner" is lunch.
Actual definitions of those terms: Dinner is the main meal; supper is the last meal. That's why Sunday dinner is midday. When my Brazilian colleagues visited the US for meetings, they told me my team wasn't feeding them a proper dinner at midday.
From a New Zealander, we are also famous for starting a response with “Yeah , nah….” FYI: “Yeah, Nah” usually means “No”, “Nah, Yeah” usually means Yes. But not always. Tone and cadence is critical. “Yeah, nah, yeah” means 1) Maybe, or 2) Still Maybe, but I don’t want to annoy you with my indecision, so I’m stalling for time. “Yeah, nah, yeah ….. nah …..” is Ive forgotten what the question is.
Here in Il, at least Chicago, you might hear someone say “just take it witch-a”. This is used when speaking about whether or not a person should take something along.
I'm from Cleveland and now in the Chicagoland area and I say that. 😄
so funny when I lived in the Twin Cities & worked in the grocery business at CUB FOODS right after high school, I was saying OPE all the time. plus I totally relate to the bar stuff, we used to shoot pool (badly) & just drink beer after beer after beer. I never got pulled over HAHAHAHa I live in Missouri now - technically the mid-west but no where as nice as up north. miss you guys : )
As someone born and raised in WI, I love watching these videos cause it’s fun to imagine someone from Texas or somewhere taking this class cause they’re moving and want to be able to talk to the locals! lol
I've been speaking Midwest all my life as I grew up in Chicago & I think I aquired that accent. Even when my parents & I moved to California, I was told I "talked funny".😊
This video is soooooo trueeee!!! Coming frome a born and raised midwesterner.
Maybe it is obvious since it is the channel name, but YOU BETCHA is a staple of my midwesterner lingo
Let me start an argument: I believe that yasureyoubetcha is one word
Midwesterners: we're American Canadians
Except we own lot’s of pew pew’s and know how to use them.
@@wegotgame But we still have to watch our language when referring to particular condensed powder combustion behind aerodynamically designed metal pellets
@@samaelament nice 😂 but sadly true. It is total insanity but not too much concerned with terminology as long as they are in my possession.
I've always referred to Wisconsin as South Canada, especially when working with Canadians.
Oh no, don't say that!
Even though I was born in Minnesota but moved to the east coast when I was around 5, it was still enough time where I picked up all of these and still do them 40 years later.
You forgot the "two vehicles meeting on a rural blacktop" wave where both drivers lift their index and middle finger off of the steering wheel, without releasing said steering wheel, and flicking them sharply forward and to the right. Yes, the "farmer wave" is alive and well in the rural Tri-state area of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. 😉
In Nebraska as well!
Wisconsinite here! It's only a bubbler up north. It's a water fountain in most of the state.
I've lived in Milwaukee, Lacrosse, and up north in Rhinelander. It's been bubbler all over the state! I refuse to use the term water fountain unless it's something in the middle of a mall and I'm throwing quarters into it and making a wish!
Exiting a conversation with, "Well, I suppose"
* "tsk. Welp."
Starting one with 'I tell you what...'
My non mis westSO doesn’t understand I suppose or you would think
I use "kitty corner" when I'm talkin something diagonal across the street. I picked it up from my folks. (I'm from IND and had to move to ILL for work many years ago 😒). I had to explain the meaning to someone in ILL. Is that a midwest thing or a south thing?
I use either kitty or caddy corner. 😂
In east Missouri, we saw catty corner (St. Louis and SE Missouri.
I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life and we say many of these things. We say pop for a soft drink, tennis shoes for any athletic shoes, Kleenex for facial tissues and we use time to describe distance of travel instead of mileage.
@@YOUR-LOCAL13 I live in St. Louis; no one has ever said pop for soda.
@@janeentumbao8690 A Caddy is a car😂
As a native Nebraskan, I can confirm they are called pickle cards. Come to think of it, that is the only place I’ve ever heard that term.😮 another Midwest word you forgot is crick…not CREEEEK. Crick. Lol
Creek is the noise the south pasture gate makes when it needs oil.
Never thought of Utah as the Midwest until I saw videos like this. Quite similar here. But we don't prononouce T's... nice mounains, with a lot of wader in em.
Wow! This is all so true😅 I unfortunately got moved out of northern Wisconsin to Indiana 24 years ago, but my goodness all of this still describes me to a T!!! It makes me happy when coworkers still notice my accent after all this time away😁
Born and bred Minnesota. I’ve noticed some of the usual things attributed to Minnesotans aren’t said in the Twin Cities area, more in the rural parts. I will apologize for everything, like any good midwesterner. But I say, “Oops, sorry” I have never used the word “ope” in my life. Never heard anyone in my family use it either.
I'm in Indiana and I've never heard it used around here either - that or I've just never noticed it.
Its odd that the midwest gets put in this huge box. I was born in Kansas, and raised in Missouri. I've never encountered anyone using "ope". Even the accent, it can't be bunched up into a singular dialect, because there are multiple accents throughout the entire midwest. Maybe it should be differentiated by saying something like "northern midwest", "midwest", or "southern midwest"?
I don't know. But even the "pop" thing, we used to say that as kids, but once we got older it turned into us saying "soda", at least for most people.
Honestly, its both funny and irritating when I say I'm from the midwest and people instantly think im from Minnesota or Wisconsin, yet I don't sound like I'm from there. I already have to explain that I grew up in the Missouri part of Kansas City, and not Kansas. 😂
As a born and raised Michiganian, all of this is true 💙🤚
Michiganian? WTF…Michigander!
Both are correct unless you're a yupper
@@danmecham8075thanks for correcting this atrocity 🫡
Yooper, lives above the bridge (the mighty Mackinac), Trolls live below the bridge Detroit, Saginaw etc.
Kalamazoo
I have a MSG, who's from North Carolina, teaching our ROTC class in Southern Illinois. He loves to mention how the way we bottle up our hatred for someone is insane.
My parents have a feud with the neighbors. The curtains can't take it anymore. They have a bird feeder in front just so they can say they are watching the birds...
Don't forget "real quick once." "Can you help me move the couch real quick once?" "I'm gonna run this over to Barb's real quick once." We're all about the illusion of speed and efficiency
And the pinnacle "ope, lemme squeeze right past ya real quick once"
I say this ALL THE TIME. Also, I had no idea how often I use “ope” until I started watching these and Charlie Berens after moving to FL).
HES BACK. Reminds me of the old videos
I never knew exactly what “whippin shitties” meant aside from it being something with a car and I’ve just been using it regularly when talking about my driving, so it’s nice to know the proper way to use it now. I will not change my use of it at all.
When we speak, we drop the "g" on any word ending in "ing."
What are ya doin?
Whatcha doin also works
I never did this and have been living in the Midwest most of my life.
@@AmandineClaireDubois maybe it's more specifically a Michigan thing.
@@coreyeatsdetroit9733 No, I've definitely heard plenty of it in both Indiana and Illinois. It's just me.
It's just too damn accurate. I've been out of my midwest natural habitat for too long now. Might be time to head back where maybe people will understand me.
Pop = Soda
That's a regional distinction. Pop is more to the west all the way into Minnesota. Soda is more hugging lake Michigan side of the state. Same with water fountain and bubbler. I'm not exactly sure the line of demarcation, Maybe Wasau or Steven's Point, probably more Oshkosh to Fond du Lac.
I moved from Beloit to the Milwaukee area and had to switch from pop to soda. Every time I asked for pop at a restaurant, they responded “huh?”.
In Southrrn Indiana everything is a Coke. As in, “you want a Coke?” “Response: “Yeah, get me a Mountain Dew”. It has to be a two-part exchange.
@@Doc_Tar Michigan uses pop instead of soda.
And I will die on this hill
I agree with “ Er no”. Can you help me move this weekend? Er no ?
Wanna go fishing tomorrow? Er No?
You give your buddy a out when you invite him to go ice fishing so he doesn’t feel obligated to go do his favorite activity with his best friend of 40 years and drink beer your wife got you
I'm loving the green screen!
Also in Saskatchewan we call a hoody a bunnyhug
I’m a midwesterner living in CA. I can totally relate to all this, how fun!
A couple two tree battries means I need four batteries
I'm not sure if that one's made it to Illinois yet. Cuz if you say that to me I'm going to give you 2 or 3 batteries. You ain't getting 4. You didn't say 4. To be fair Illinois is its own special little case I think.
i say that! I'm a FIB
From Illinois, I'd give you three but definitely not 2!
So a couple years ago I was in Portland OR visiting a cousin. His next door neighbor is from the north burbs of Chicago and I'm from the west suburbs of Chicago. Now this lady has lived there 30 plus years. So we are on the deck talking about something and she says " I haven't that in a long time" . To this day I do not know what I said but it was definitely a Midwestern word or two that made her smile.
In Missouri we don't say ope but I'm pretty sure I say let me sneak right past ya every time I'm at the grocery store. Also instead of saying hello we we say "how ya doing?" Which is almost always replied with "good, you?"
We definitely say Ope in Missouri. All the time.
@@russhowser9747 I've lived in north eastern mo all my life never once heard it but I can't speak for the rest of the state.
Columbia/jefferson city, Missouri here and we def say ope
The word “across” must be spoken with a “t” at the end: “I went acrost the street to get a pop.” Bonus points for adding an “r” to the word, “wash”: “ope, the warshing machine has gone catty-whampus again”.
😂👍
Warsh. Except my mom's side of the family pronounced it "woosh" which I hear more in the mountain west like Wyoming.
Goin to run thru the power warsher real quick = I'm going to take a quick shower
My mom would say the "warsh" thing to the point it annoyed my dad -- because he heard his mother, a native Texan, say it that way...plus he could be a pedantic, holier-than-thou arsehole. (Yes, I'm borrowing a Brit term, just bc it's fun, and I'm a shameless Anglophile). 😜
I had a teacher when I was in high school who teased us when we said warsh. He was from Chicago. I taught myself to say wash after that.
I can't believe "yasureyabetcha" didn't get a shout-out here
Classic. I've lived in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Excellent.
There's the classic "Ya... I don't know" that is commonly used to end awkward or uncomfortable conversations..... EDIT.... There is no pause between "Ya" and "I".... It is a single word.... "Yi"... Credit to @zr3755 for the correction.
Or even more common, “ya, you know…..”
You gotta combine "ya" and "I": "yi don't know"
@@zr3755 Agreed.... There shouldn't be a break between "Ya" and "I"... Those two are pronounced as a single word. Good call.
I've so done that! It's all about tone of voice and inflection. 😅
Not a midwestern trait, but a friend used to end every argument he was losing with, "That's beside the point." It kills a conversation handily.
So in Nebraska before 'pull tabs' were legal, bars would get ahold of some and dump them in a old washed out pickled egg jar, That way they could easily be hidden if need be.
Being from Michigan I can say we tend to add the letter s to stores. It’s Meijers or Krogers.
… Aldi’s, or my favorite Best Buy’s
Facts
Fords
We also love to show people where we are from with are hand lol
Absolutely! 😊👍
Live in northwest Indiana my whole life and everything thing here is 100% correct.
In the winter months if you say “The roads are pretty good,” It means that they’re slippery but well enough to get through
Wait till you find out about a little game they call Duck, Duck, Gray Duck
I've been a midwesterner my whole life and I noticed a large majority of people don't say goodbye, they just "spose. RIght before they get ready to go after the 15 minute goodbye session they just say "well I 'spose" and then go on there way.
😂
We need a whole separate video just for saying goodbye
“Oh boy” is like a sad “Ope”
May seem obvious to many, but one thing i didnt catch was the mention of the use of the word "hey". Wisconinite and i use it all the time and don't even know it. Starting a sentence, finishing a sentence, whenever.
I moved away from Wisconsin 38 years ago and people still can tell where I’m from because of my accent…ya der hey!
As a Minnesotan it’s hot dish, not casserole
Amen!!
Crick for creek, deleting “ing” and replacing with “in” and do not forget you can talk to strangers about the weather for a lonnnnggg time if you can’t think of anything else! And my personal favorite-blinker fluid, didj ya forget yur blinker fluid?!
It pairs well with social anxiety, the giving them an out.
I am from TX. We definitely have a different dialect for sure - yeah, no, yeah down here would get you a "bless your heart". BUT our small talk rules are exactly the same and there is no such thing as leaving quickly. Our goodbyes can be just as long.
Instead of saying, “Bless your heart,” like southerners say, we say, “Poor thing.”
All the time 😂
“Didn’t think it was gonna rain taday”
“Hey, we needed it”