I have watched the TV series 'Fargo', in which increasingly hideous and bloody things happen against a mundane backdrop of Minnesota life
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I have never seen Fargo, either the film or the television series and my associations with a Minnesota accent all derive from an American humorist called Garrison Keillor. For decades he had a weekly radio show with music and comedy sketches, and the centerpiece was a monologue about the doings of a group of small-town Minnesotans. It was funny, heartwarming stuff with the merest hint of gentle satire.
I don't think I'd heard the accent before at all, or not more than in passing, anyway. In the series the warm friendly sounding voices contrasting with the building horror seem to be a big part of the atmosphere...
It's very different when you live here, I promise--that's really a northern MN/Northern ND/northern Wisconsin-ish/southern Canada-ish accent. Down here in the Twin Cities (which is a lot more of a cultural mix) there's a lot less of it.
That said, after my first decade living here I noticed that I HAD picked up that broad northern 'o'. It only comes out sometimes, thankfully.
I don't think I'd ever heard it before, or at any rate, not in such volume. The wandering tourists I overhead admiring the azaleas said 'Oh ya' a lot too, so to my very unaccustomed ear, they really did sound like the actors...
Oh, the movie is COMPLETELY accurate as to that particular accent and manner of speech. The first time I heard someone with the accent I had to surreptitiously pinch myself to make sure that I was, in fact, not hallucinating or otherwise dreaming it.
And then years later when I caught myself saying "aboat" I nearly melted into my chair in mortification right there.
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I have never seen Fargo, either the film or the television series and my associations with a Minnesota accent all derive from an American humorist called Garrison Keillor. For decades he had a weekly radio show with music and comedy sketches, and the centerpiece was a monologue about the doings of a group of small-town Minnesotans. It was funny, heartwarming stuff with the merest hint of gentle satire.
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It's very different when you live here, I promise--that's really a northern MN/Northern ND/northern Wisconsin-ish/southern Canada-ish accent. Down here in the Twin Cities (which is a lot more of a cultural mix) there's a lot less of it.
That said, after my first decade living here I noticed that I HAD picked up that broad northern 'o'. It only comes out sometimes, thankfully.
Reply
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And then years later when I caught myself saying "aboat" I nearly melted into my chair in mortification right there.
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