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EP20 - It's Pronounced Min-e-sOOOdah · Oh And One More Thing

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Some old friends facing our fears, laughing through the
0:13
chaos and drinking some beers. So here's to the laughs, the
0:16
crumbs and the cheers. All the awkward moments.
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And we're still here. Because in the end, we're just
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doing our thing. It's our crazy life. 01 more.
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Thing. One more thing.
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Welcome to Owen One More Thing, a podcast where 2 long time
0:35
friends try to figure out what the heck is going on with this
0:37
crazy thing called Middle age. It's a mix of stories of how we
0:40
navigate our lives and maybe some questionable advice.
0:43
Some days we're wise, other days we're just trying to remember
0:46
where the heck we left our phone.
0:47
So join us as we laugh, groan, and maybe even learn a little
0:50
something about surviving in the second-half of life.
0:53
Oh, and one more thing. Hey, I'm Rob and hey, welcome to
1:06
one More thing. Hi, Rob, I'm Brian.
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What's happening? What's What's a good word today?
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Did you know I am so excited? This is our 20th episode. 20
1:18
episodes. I know.
1:20
Hey, we're doing something right.
1:21
Right. Well, at least to us we are.
1:23
We think we're. Doing something we are.
1:25
Somebody's listening, I hope. I'm excited, I honestly when we
1:28
started this I thought we'd be happy to get past like 3.
1:31
No, you, you were definitely on the bandwagon of we're going to
1:34
do this for a long time. And I was the one who said, I
1:37
don't know if we're going to make it.
1:38
Oh, that's right. That's all because.
1:39
Why? Why do we say this, Brian?
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Because Brian's pessimistic and always thinks something's going
1:45
to fall. Always as a stretch.
1:47
Yeah, it's true. More often than not.
1:50
Hey now, let's just give you some credit, right?
1:53
You know, I guess you're right. We did buy some podcast
1:54
equipment. So that was kind of.
1:56
A yeah. So we're we're kind of now
1:57
we're. In now.
1:57
Yeah, we're indebted to our podcast equipment.
2:00
Yeah. If only we could sell some
2:01
T-shirts and hats to help pay for this equipment, that would
2:03
be awesome. That would.
2:04
Did you know you can buy those? I mean, if you shoot us an
2:06
e-mail at oonemorethingpod@gmail.com, we
2:09
can hook you up. Wow, that's a great plug, Rob.
2:11
I know shirts are only 20 bucks, hats of 15, everybody's wearing
2:16
them. I know we're in mind right now.
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It's beautiful, by the way. It is.
2:20
Looks nice. Did I tell you that I'm starting
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to raise bees? You are.
2:24
I am, yeah. I went to a beekeeper.
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I got about a dozen bees or so. That's 12 to you and me.
2:28
But he came me 13. Why?
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Well, I asked what? The extra 4.
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He said. Well, because that one's a
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freebie. That's lame.
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You're not raising bees. I know I'm not.
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Hey, how do you say goodbye in Minnesotan?
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I don't know. Well, it starts with a hug, a
2:43
handshake, a wave, and a whelp. And probably 17 more minutes of
2:47
conversation. That is so true.
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We do that every time. Every.
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Time. It's called the Minnesota
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Goodbye. We also in their eyes usually do
2:57
the stretch, especially if it's after 10:00 at night.
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Well. Yeah, that's a signal.
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That's a signal for a Minnesotan.
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Totally is right. As you know, we're all we're
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from Minnesota. Yes, we can probably figure that
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out already. And we frequently hear people
3:11
talk about the Minnesota accent. So of course, I don't think that
3:15
we have a Minnesota accent, you know, from growing up here, but
3:20
I guess that we we do. But that's what all we know.
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So the more I looked into this, I began to understand
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Minnesotans are very unique and yes, I think we do have an
3:30
accent, or at least very interesting way of talking.
3:33
Like that because we're from Minnesota, Minnesota.
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Minnesota. Yeah, and Minnesotans and people
3:38
in the broader upper Midwest, they do have a distinct accent.
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It's known as the North Central American English accent.
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Really. That's a thing.
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That's what it says. And it's characterized by unique
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set of vowel pronunciations, including the long O sound and
3:52
the way they pronounce beg, beg, often something like like beg,
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just like that. I don't think I've ever said it
3:58
like that, but I think I've always said bag.
4:00
I think I say it without thinking.
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Beg, beg and then beg. It corrected all the time.
4:05
Yeah, Yeah. These characteristics are
4:07
influenced by historical settlement patterns,
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particularly the influx of Scandinavian and German
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immigrants in the late 1800s who brought their languages and
4:14
pronunciation patterns, which was the influence to the style
4:17
of English that we speak. No.
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OK, that makes sense. And so while I'm not technically
4:21
consider the normal accent, the Minnesotan or the Upper
4:24
Midwestern accent is often perceived as a relatively
4:26
neutral or standard American accent, particularly in the
4:29
context of media and entertainment.
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So when you're watching your TV and movies and whatnot, this
4:34
kind of just normal, just broad accent is normally what you
4:37
would hear as a an American accent.
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OK, OK. But please don't think if you
4:42
come to Minnesota that you're going to hear like the movie
4:44
Fargo. It's not like that, no.
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Plus, Fargo's in North Dakota, not Minnesota.
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Not even close. So I heard you're a huge fan of
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that movie, by the way. OK, so a bit of an issue when
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the movie came out, because the movie itself is a decent movie,
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but I was so offended by the style of language I spoke that
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it irritated me so badly that I disliked the movie because of
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it. I since got over that.
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I've gotten over that in the fact that it's a good movie,
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right? But we do not.
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Speak like so it was more for you in your case, it was more
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just the how they talked and how how extreme that that extreme.
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They made it and how that represented who we were.
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And that's not who we are, right?
5:28
And they based it, so they called it Fargo.
5:30
They based it in the Twin Cities, which is 4 1/2 hours
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South of Fargo. But the accent they use is more
5:36
of a like, border of Minnesota to Canada.
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Yeah, it's like. Definitely some Canadian,
5:41
there's some Minnesotan in there, you know, and it's, it's
5:44
really pronounced. And I know a lot of people think
5:46
that you're in Minnesota, you live on the Canadian border.
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We are 6 hours away from the border here in the Twin Cities.
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So there's a little bit of distance, just a little, just a
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little. So I think we should talk about
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how to be a Minnesotan. OK, I love it.
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So I think it starts with the very stereotypical Minnesotan
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speech patterns and mannerisms. So if if you're gonna learn to
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speak like a Minnesotan, right, Yeah.
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First of all, you need to draw out all of your O's when
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speaking. That's.
6:08
Right, Minnesota. Soda I like to take out the boat
6:12
on the lake every weekend. Yeah, the boat, yeah, for a
6:14
phone, yeah. Or mix them toast.
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Or frozen. Right.
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Go, go grab your coat. It's cold outside.
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Cold, right? Yeah.
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You get it. It's not cold if it's 30°.
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That is true. That is, that is not cold.
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That is not cold. No, that's lovely.
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Plus, the more nasally you can sound with your A's, the better.
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Lake bag give me a good wave. Yeah, such a flake.
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You flake? Yeah.
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You get the idea, right? So if you really want to be a
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Minnesotan, then there are some common phrases you should.
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Learn. Need to learn.
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Absolutely, Absolutely. Like this one?
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You betcha. You betcha.
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It's a classic Minnesotan affirmation.
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Or to replace the words certainly off often used to
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agree or show enthusiasm. You can also shorten the phrase
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to You bet, you bet, I say you bet.
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I say yeah. I say you bet I have.
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Ever say you bet. You I I every once in a while
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say you betcha. But you're doing it in a
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mocking, sort of. Absolutely.
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I am. You betcha.
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But I'll say, you bet, You bet. All the time I will do too.
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What about UFTA? I never say.
7:12
I've never said it, I've heard it a few times.
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OK, I'll say. Ufta I I say, I say oof once in
7:17
a. While I won't throw the duh no
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on there, no, not at all. But I, I do know some folks and
7:21
grandparents that are very Scandinavian and they do do the
7:24
whole UFTA really. Oh, absolutely.
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OK, so the Scandinavian import is a versatile expression for
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oh, it can convey surprise, exhaustion, frustration or even
7:33
relief. It's all and how we say it.
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Oof, da. Oof, yes, how about this one?
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Oh, for cute. I.
7:43
Have you ever heard that? I've heard it, but I I wouldn't.
7:45
I wouldn't quantify that as Minnesotan though.
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OK, it is, and it's used to express delight or affirmation
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for something cute and adorable, of course.
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So my wife and I, we got friends and she says, oh, for cute all
8:00
the time. And, and she even says, oh, you
8:03
betcha. Yeah, yeah, she is totally a
8:05
Minnesota. She's in, She's in.
8:07
Yeah, she drank the Kool-aid. I I don't, yeah, I don't over
8:10
cute. I've heard it, but I not on a
8:11
regular basis. So I don't know anybody quite
8:13
that. OK, I'll I'll make a point of
8:15
trying to use that. Please do.
8:16
Don't you know? Don't you know?
8:18
Don't you know? Yeah.
8:19
That's, that's again like how you emphasize that, don't you
8:22
know? And you follow, follow that up
8:24
with a Yeah, yeah. So it's the filler similar to,
8:27
you know, or that adds A folksy touch to any sentence.
8:29
So. Don't you know?
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Don't you know? Yeah.
8:31
That way I do use on a semi ring.
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Oh, for cute. Don't you know for cute, right?
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How about this? Oh, for Pete's sake.
8:39
Right. It's a simple idiom used to
8:42
express annoyance, frustration or impatience because we
8:46
wouldn't want to be to offend anyone.
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Unless your name is Pete. Unless your name right right.
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Oh, for Pete's. Sake.
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Now, if you say it with the long a Oprah, Oh, for Pete's sake.
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There you go. There you go.
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Now, Now you're. Getting in there, there you get
8:58
there. Oh yeah, for.
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Sure. Oh yeah, for sure.
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That one. That one, too, was on the far
9:02
end. But so it's a way of saying yes,
9:05
definitely, absolutely, with a characteristic Minnesotan flair.
9:08
I like the Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.
9:09
Oh yeah. Mm.
9:11
Hmm. How about whelp whelp, whelp,
9:14
that's you said to get up. That's that's your goodbye.
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You got it. You got your goodbye movers like
9:18
whelp. Yep, I think we should get
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going. It is an informal interjection,
9:23
much like well to introduce a remark expressing a sense of
9:27
resignation, finality or even a bit of disappointment, and quite
9:32
often used to signal it's time to leave.
9:35
Well. Well.
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I've got to be up early tomorrow.
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Stretch. Well, the Vikings fly at noon,
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so I got to get up. I got to go.
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It's 10:00, time for you people to leave.
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It's pretty much and you, because you know you still have
9:49
half an hour in front of me before you get your ass out the
9:50
door. So goodbye, you're going to take
9:53
that time. Take forever.
9:55
What about? I actually use this.
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I So here's what I use. So it's similar to Oops or
10:02
excuse me or something like that, but I use it as excuse me,
10:04
like if I'm walking into a story, gives the door at the
10:07
same time, I go excuse me, oops, sorry.
10:10
Instead of Oops, Yeah, yeah, OOP.
10:12
Yeah, that one's very common in my vernacular.
10:15
I, I was the other day, I was actually tying my shoes and I
10:19
got to get went to get up and I had forgotten something and I
10:22
said OOP, yeah. And my wife looks at me.
10:25
Really. Yes, really.
10:28
That's who I. Am so I have one more that
10:31
wasn't on our list that I I have a friend that uses this and he
10:34
is completely from up north. Ah cripes, actually said ah
10:38
cripes. Really.
10:40
Yeah, right. Yeah.
10:42
I don't hear that on a regular basis, but that one has made me
10:44
laugh so. And and lastly, I just want to
10:46
make a little mention here. It's not soda.
10:48
It's pop. Oh, it's pop.
10:49
Yeah, it did. Yeah.
10:50
It caught on in the Midwest as pop due to the the sound of the
10:54
soda bottle when it when you pop the top off.
10:56
Ever tell you my pop story from New York?
10:58
What is your pop story? Oh, I think they call it coke,
11:01
don't they? So well is that, did I ruin the
11:04
story? No, not at all.
11:05
So been in New York once, it was probably 10 years ago, and my
11:08
wife and I just went to spend a long weekend in New York.
11:09
Never been there before. Just go see the sights and all
11:11
that fun stuff. And I think we went, we went to
11:14
a fast food place. I'm pretty sure it was a
11:15
McDonald's. Went in to get a burger and and
11:17
a pop, right. Yeah.
11:18
So we'll go up to the counter order.
11:20
And so, yeah, give me, give me a Big Mac and a pop.
11:22
And he looks at me, doesn't say anything.
11:23
I said, I'm sorry, a soda stares at me.
11:27
He goes, what do you want? He said something in a cop like,
11:31
and he goes like a Coke. I said, yeah, it's a Coke.
11:34
In his Minnesota or his New York style.
11:36
Right so I I failed on 2 fronts with pop and soda.
11:40
That's the thing. Now, I don't like to say pop.
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I would much prefer to say soda, but I know it's a, it's a
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totally a Minnesota thing to say pop Totally, totally.
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Or if you go down South where it's always cold, it's always
11:50
cool. Or some other places it's always
11:51
Pepsi, no matter what you're drinking.
11:53
Just yeah. Well, can I ever order a Sprite?
11:56
No, you have to say coke. I don't like coke.
11:58
I want the clear coke. I don't clear coke.
12:00
I think that failed back in the 80s.
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Pretty much. All right, so then let's also
12:05
not forget about hot dish. Hot Dish.
12:08
Of course we are. We are known for our hot.
12:10
Dish so hot. Dish I.
12:11
Love hot dish. So hot dish is this another word
12:13
for casserole? But it's usually it's a hot
12:15
dish, usually after, after it has a tater tops on it, right?
12:19
Yeah, you gotta have tater tots on your hot dish.
12:20
It's delicious. Why wouldn't you, Right.
12:23
Yes, it's phenomenal. So before we get into Robbie all
12:26
time favorite Minnesotan Word, let's hear a little bit from our
12:29
sponsor, Spring Green. Yes, our spring Green minute.
12:34
This week we're going to talk about mowing in the fall and I'm
12:38
I'm sure you're asking. What's the mowing?
12:39
What's the difference? I I mow all the time.
12:42
Why is it different mowing in the fall versus mowing in the
12:44
summer? It is no different.
12:45
So we spoke, we talked earlier about leaves and how you should
12:47
mow your leaves and only bag them, only bag them when they
12:50
get thick. But one other thing you want to
12:51
do is you want to lower your mowing height as you get towards
12:54
your last couple moles of the season.
12:56
Really. Yeah, you want to get short.
12:58
You want to get really short grass.
12:59
No. So, no, I did not know that.
13:00
Yeah. So I mean, no, a lot of these
13:02
things I do know, but that I did not know.
13:04
So here is why. So especially in a colder
13:06
climate like up here in Minnesota.
13:08
Oh, Minnesota as. As the ground freezes in the
13:10
winter, it starts to thaw in the spring.
13:12
The thaw starts from the top level.
13:14
The sun hits the grass and then gets, you know, the the frost
13:16
line gets lower and lower and lower and lower.
13:18
Well, if you have a shorter root system, your grass will come out
13:21
of dormancy a lot quicker. Yeah, because it's getting out
13:23
of that ice layer a little bit quicker.
13:25
So the root of a grass blade is just as long below ground as it
13:28
is above ground. So when you cut your grass, you
13:29
cut it down to whatever 2 inches in height that root shows up to
13:33
two inches. OK, now what if you're if you
13:35
could cut your grass at 3 1/2 four inches normally?
13:38
During the summer. Yes.
13:39
Wouldn't your root layer already be longer?
13:42
It is until you cut it and as soon as you cut it within, I
13:45
mean with obviously within about a day I would say that root kind
13:48
of kind of pulls itself up and gets the same height above
13:52
ground as it is below ground that's.
13:54
Very. Interesting that root system is
13:55
that the root system is constantly moving.
13:56
It's a very active ecosystem. That's cool.
13:59
You want to cut it shorter in the fall in your last couple
14:02
moments. So as it comes out of winter,
14:03
spring, winter dormancy and in the spring, the shorter wood
14:05
system, it'll pop a little bit quicker in the spring, it'll
14:07
start to come to life a little bit quicker and you'll get a
14:10
healthier, greener grass quicker in the spring.
14:13
Well, that's amazing. So there you go, there's your
14:14
tip of the week. Cool all.
14:16
Right. So we have one last word here
14:20
that we really need to talk about.
14:23
That's Rob's favorite Minnesota word.
14:26
And it is the best word of all of them.
14:28
Skull. Skull.
14:32
Yes, of course. Come on, Vikings.
14:34
Now, Brian, did you notice what shirt I'm wearing tonight on
14:36
purpose? You're.
14:36
Wearing a Viking. Shirt I am wearing a Viking
14:38
shirt because it is Viking season and they've obviously by
14:41
the time this airs they've won every game they've played so
14:43
far. I don't think that's true.
14:44
This is going to come back to haunt, but they've all been
14:47
close. At least if they haven't won, no
14:49
so skull. Which of course means cheers.
14:52
Did you know that? At the time when I was writing
14:55
this, I didn't necessarily know what Skull meant, OK, Because
14:59
I'm not a Vikings crawlower, correct?
15:01
But I did learn that, yeah. So yeah, it means cheer.
15:03
So it's based on the Scandinavian heritage that is
15:06
common in Minnesota and is that and is the Vikings team fight
15:09
song. But did you really know what it
15:11
means? No.
15:13
No. So what it means?
15:14
So skull, which is SKAL in Scandinavian speak, it's
15:18
referring to a communal bowl often filled with beer.
15:22
Duh. Cool.
15:23
That was passed around so each person would take a drink and
15:25
then say skull. And of course, this comes from
15:27
Viking culture. Cool.
15:28
Yeah, so as I was kind of digging into this too, I got a
15:31
little more curious. We talk about Scandinavian all
15:33
the time, but does everybody know what Scandinavian really
15:35
means? No.
15:37
So I did some research. Oh.
15:38
I love it when you do research. I know, right.
15:41
So Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe that includes
15:44
modern day Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
15:46
OK, so these are seafaring. Norse people emerged around the
15:49
late 8th century, becoming known for their exploration, trade and
15:53
raiding across Europe and beyond during the Viking Age.
15:55
Sure. And that's where the Vikings
15:56
were kind of prominent is back in the 8th century.
15:58
And that's kind of where the whole Viking history and the
16:00
skull and if you watch Vikings games, the bolt and bolt the
16:04
boat. The.
16:06
Bolt and the and the kind of the Norse culture and all that
16:10
that's where all that has come from so it's it's very deep in
16:14
history so but Scandinavians grew up with a very rugged
16:16
terrain. It was a very harsh climate,
16:18
very tough to have any kind of agricultural.
16:20
So they had to kind of expand and, and they haunted and and
16:25
they were kind of known for raiding other populations and
16:28
pretty much taking over. And a lot of fish.
16:30
And a lot of fish, a lot of fish so, but that made them tough.
16:33
Yeah, they tough. School.
16:35
So beyond just the unique words we speak, there are also some
16:39
situational phrases that come into play when you are at
16:41
Minnesotan. Phrases like let me just squeeze
16:44
right past you, or I'll just slip right by you.
16:46
I. I have used the squeeze right
16:48
past you one. Have you if?
16:49
Somebody's you're in the store, somebody's standing there
16:51
hogging the aisle, say hey, can I squeeze past you really quick.
16:53
Yeah, it's a polite way of saying, excuse me, but in a
16:56
Minnesota. Style get the hell out of my way
16:59
in a very nice passive way. Passive aggressive.
17:03
That's where we are very passive.
17:04
Aggressive we are very much. Yeah.
17:06
So being raised in Minnesota and passive aggressive is is part of
17:09
our culture. Yeah, it is.
17:11
To say and so we go see a a comedy show on a yearly basis on
17:15
the danger committee. Never seen them.
17:17
They're phenomenal. I have seen them, they are
17:18
great. Wait, who have I seen them with?
17:21
I think with. Us.
17:21
You they're. Also the Renaissance festival
17:24
every year. They're very popular group, but
17:26
they they do a common phrase where they they like, they open
17:29
their act with like their people silently judging what they do
17:32
Yep. Well, that's totally us.
17:33
That's what we that's totally we totally silently judge.
17:36
And then after the things gone, everybody's happy.
17:37
And then you turn around behind their back and be like, what a
17:40
Jackass and. You talk about them.
17:41
Talk about them, what we do pass progressive.
17:43
I don't talk about you, Rob. No, I would never do that.
17:45
No, no, not, not, not to your face.
17:48
Interesting. What about it?
17:49
It's interesting. It is very interesting.
17:51
Yes, this is often used to express disapproval or
17:53
disagreement without being overly critical.
17:56
And I, as I, as I'm saying this, I said that word a lot on this
18:00
podcast. Yes, you have.
18:01
Well, that's well, that's interesting.
18:02
I say that a lot just in my regular life.
18:05
I think I do too, which is why. It's like I don't know what else
18:08
to say. So I oh, that's interesting,
18:10
right, Yeah. And I don't ever mean it to be
18:12
like disapproving no or I disagree, right.
18:16
It's just like it's fill, a filler word for me, yeah.
18:18
You're you're mostly just acknowledging that they made a
18:21
comment that they spoke and you're listening.
18:23
Yeah. Or you're trying to listen, or
18:24
trying to listener or fame that you're listening.
18:27
Sometimes maybe I am a little. Overly critical?
18:29
Yeah. How about?
18:30
It's fine. Oh, that one's, oh that one.
18:32
That one's all about tone. It is.
18:35
You can get a huge argument with your wife.
18:37
Oh yeah, of course by saying it's fine in the wrong tone, but
18:41
yeah, it's game. Over.
18:42
It is absolutely, but as we all know, it's a way of saying
18:45
something is not fine. Without directly stating it.
18:50
And you obviously know what fine stands for, right?
18:53
Tell me what fine stands for. Freaked out, insecure, neurotic,
18:57
emotional. Oh no.
18:59
Yeah, that's from AI AM. Totally fine.
19:01
I'm totally fine. Yes, you are.
19:07
It's from a movie, and I know you're going to make me think
19:09
about what it is right now. And I cannot remember that's
19:11
from the Italian. Job yes, that's it.
19:13
I love that. That was a great movie.
19:14
That is a great. Movie.
19:15
Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
19:18
That's different. OK, I've said that, yeah.
19:21
That's different. I have to.
19:22
That's another plight. Way to say you don't like
19:24
something. But.
19:25
That's like if you try something at a meal.
19:28
That's different, different. You notice a lot of these are a
19:30
nice plight. Ways to say we don't like
19:32
something, right? Passive aggressive, silently
19:35
judging. That's what we do.
19:38
Is that what being a Minnesota really is?
19:40
Pretty much. How about holy buckets playful
19:45
exclamation similar to Oh my goodness.
19:48
And I say holy buckets. I don't think I say holy
19:51
buckets. And I say more.
19:52
I say holy cow, holy cow, holy cow.
19:55
Because, you know, cows. Holy Beaver biscuits.
20:00
What about your? I can't go there, no.
20:04
What about the word budge? When we were kids all the time,
20:08
Mom, he budged. You didn't say that.
20:11
I didn't say no, not budged. That's when you would skip line
20:14
skip in the line you'd you'd go closer to the bigger the front.
20:18
Yeah. Oh, you're maybe.
20:19
No, I didn't use Bud. What did I use?
20:20
But butted butted, he butted in line, butted in line, butted in
20:24
line. Budged.
20:26
Butted. It's it's the same.
20:27
It's the same. It's the same word.
20:29
Yeah, it's right. How about it's snowing?
20:32
Must have warmed up. Totally.
20:33
Is warmed up totally it. Has to be slightly warmer for
20:37
snow. It does come down.
20:39
It does so it's very sarcastic comment about the unpredictable
20:42
Minnesota weather, but it's true because when it's true when it
20:45
is truly like middle of January, mid to February and it truly is
20:48
those 2030 below wind chill days and it's you know below 0
20:51
consistently it is too cold to snow the atmosphere.
20:55
Can't you know some generally? Can come down, but it's very
20:58
dry. Very dry, very fluffy.
20:59
You know, and if it's coming down at a steady rate, the
21:02
temperature actually went up. Yeah.
21:04
So into into the 30s. Yeah.
21:06
And which is balmy to us? Totally balmy.
21:08
Because, you know, you totally start wearing shorts when it's
21:10
45°. But you know what's funny about
21:12
that? So now we're we're in next
21:13
September, going to October now. And when it's 45 in October,
21:16
it's freezing. It's sweater weather.
21:18
It's yeah, we're it's. It's sweater weather.
21:20
Sweater weather. Right.
21:21
It's hoodies. It's bonfires.
21:24
But in March when it's 45°, yeah, shorts are up.
21:27
Oh, totally, Absolutely, absolutely.
21:29
Yeah. How about I didn't hate it?
21:31
Well, I didn't either. Minnesota way of saying you
21:35
didn't like something without being too negative again.
21:37
Right in our theme. Yeah, I don't.
21:39
I don't. I've never said I didn't hate
21:41
it. I have like some, you'll see a
21:43
movie or something and like, oh, So what do you think about it?
21:45
Like I didn't hate it. OK, I I totally get that
21:48
sentiment. I get that makes sense.
21:50
Yeah, you didn't really like it, but it wasn't terrible enough
21:53
for you to check off your list and I'll never see it again.
21:56
Exactly. How about it could be worse?
21:58
OK, I've used. It could be worse.
22:00
Yeah. And it's always like in a
22:01
situation where my kids are complaining or something's going
22:04
on in that in that style. And it's like, well, it could be
22:07
worse. Could be worse.
22:08
So I mean, it really means that it just isn't as bad as it could
22:10
be. So it's a positive spit bad
22:13
situation. Could be because back in the
22:15
Great Depression, when I was going to school, I'm kidding.
22:20
Yes, I'm old enough. That old.
22:21
No, not. Not yet.
22:22
How about a bit of snow? A bit of snow?
22:24
Well, a bit of snow can mean a few inches.
22:27
Elsewhere in Minnesota, a bit of snow is probably anywhere
22:30
between one to three feet, and that's not a lot.
22:34
That's. That's one of three feet.
22:37
Seems a little expensive. It's a foot of snow, yes.
22:40
Yeah, it's a bit of snow. That's a bit of snow.
22:41
Yeah, OK. But I get it in that, in that,
22:43
you know, style. So it's a bit of snow.
22:45
It's a little sarcastic way of saying we got snow.
22:49
Yeah, I think we're becoming kind of wussies up here though,
22:50
because the last two winters we've had virtually no snow,
22:53
right. So I guess that that's probably
22:55
part of my reaction is when you say 1 to 3 feet, like, oh, come
22:57
on. But you go back 3-4 years ago we
23:00
had like 90 plus inches of snow on one in winter and it was
23:03
horrible. But OK, but wait, I'm waiting.
23:06
I'm waiting for that winter to come by again because I got a
23:09
new snow blower. That you're dying to use.
23:11
Dying to use it. It's this brand new beautiful
23:14
snow blower. I'm like, Get Me Out there.
23:16
Come on, Snow. OK.
23:17
So we'll talk again in March after we've had, you know, 35,
23:20
three foot snow falls and see how you feel about the end of
23:22
your driveway. And I'm going to tell you it's
23:24
going to be like Butta. Like Butta?
23:26
Like Butta? Now I have two snow blowers
23:30
because why would you have one? Right when you can have two
23:34
exactly exactly 1 in each hand. No one for each person.
23:39
Oh, you're funny. OK, here's one that we both use
23:45
all the time. Yeah, going up north, up north.
23:48
Up north, Yep. So it's very, it's not specific
23:51
about kind of where you're going just from, you're just going up
23:54
north, right, right. And everybody knows what that
23:56
means. It means cabin country.
23:57
That means the woods. It means the lake.
23:58
You could be camping, could be fishing, hiking, anything just
24:02
up north could be in a. Tent could be a kayak.
24:05
Anywhere north of where we are today is up north.
24:08
Literally could go 5 miles and you're up north, up north.
24:10
Well, I wouldn't say that. I have friends who have a cabin
24:13
directly West of here. And they say up north.
24:15
Yeah, we're going north of the cabin.
24:17
No, you're. Literally driving W, you're
24:19
getting on the highway that goes due West, you're not going up
24:21
north. I was just up north this last
24:24
weekend. You were.
24:25
You were? Yeah.
24:26
How was it? It was beautiful.
24:28
And where were you? We were at Moose Lake, a sort of
24:31
a celebration of life and. Where'd you stay?
24:34
We stayed in a log cabin. Actual real log cabin.
24:38
Gorgeous. Had a moose head on the.
24:40
Wall, It's beautiful. So you stayed in a log cabin up
24:42
north? A log cabin.
24:43
Up north? Is that cliche?
24:45
Have you ever seen the movie The Great Outdoors I.
24:47
Have It's been a long, long time.
24:48
That's what I picture. OK, yes, just like that log
24:51
cabin moves over the over the fireplace.
24:53
Well, it was to the side of the fireplace, but yes.
24:55
Yeah, raccoon's breaking into your house, eating the garbage.
24:57
No raccoon, nothing that no. Do you have to eat the old 90
25:00
sixer at the at the restaurant? Do you remember that?
25:03
I did not John John Candy. The challenge was you had to eat
25:06
a 96 ounce steak in one sitting in like high power.
25:08
So. Vomit.
25:09
And you you want like AT shirt? Yeah, it's not worth.
25:12
It. But that's true.
25:12
I've been to restaurants where that's like a thing.
25:14
Yeah, up north there was. We went to a a restaurant and
25:18
they had that sort of thing, but it was a burger.
25:21
It was a whole pound of hamburger in the burger and you
25:25
had to eat the whole thing. Yeah, I don't know what you got.
25:27
We were like, oh, I'd be so sick.
25:30
Or I get sick just thinking about that.
25:31
That's so much food. All right, So I think it paints
25:33
a pretty good picture. But what about meat raffles?
25:37
I love a meat raffle. So if you're not from here, you
25:39
probably have no idea what we're talking about.
25:41
You don't. I I think this is a very
25:43
specific to our region for sure. OK, so tell me, what a meat
25:46
raffle? Is so a meat raffle is you go to
25:48
the bar, Yeah. And you buy raffle tickets and
25:51
spin a wheel and they spin a wheel and they draw and they
25:52
spin a wheel or they draw a number, however they want to do
25:54
it. And they call a number and you
25:56
win a package of meat. I know it's awesome.
25:58
It could be steaks, it could be hamburger, it could be chicken,
26:00
it could be. Could be a Turkey.
26:02
Could be a Turkey, could be seafood.
26:04
You really go to the bar and win meat.
26:06
Yeah, what's wrong with that? Oh my God, have you seen the
26:08
meat at those places? You a They've usually been
26:10
sitting out on like a pool table for two hours under the hot pool
26:13
table light. First of all, I don't think pool
26:15
table lights are that high. And they're getting it free from
26:18
the butcher, who's all his old crap he wants to discard.
26:20
So it's none of it's good. Sometimes they bought it at the
26:23
grocery. Store, but they're extremely
26:25
popular like those places are packed.
26:27
One of our fundraisers of show choir.
26:29
We used to help run a meat raffle at A at a local bar in
26:32
town once in a while and yeah, I'd like that.
26:34
Meat scared me. So you didn't take any home?
26:38
No. How about the Minnesota favorite
26:40
pastime? Hockey.
26:42
Hockey. We are the state of hockey.
26:44
State of Hockey. Yes, we are.
26:45
At least that's what we tell ourselves.
26:46
Have you? Did you ever play hockey?
26:48
I never played hockey. I did own skates because as the
26:51
song goes, you grew up with skates on your feet and.
26:54
That's the song. Your mom was a referee.
26:55
The wild song. Minnesota Wild song.
26:57
Oh. Sorry, sorry, Minnesota Wild.
26:59
Apparently I don't know the words.
27:00
Yeah, no, never played hockey, but yes, I definitely grew up
27:03
and going down to the local park and playing skating on the rink
27:06
there, or we also grew up right next to a lake.
27:08
So we'd go out with the shovels and clear off space and skate
27:11
around and whatnot. But I never, I never even had a
27:14
stick. I just, no, I just skated.
27:16
Yeah, I grew up with a ice rink in my backyard.
27:19
So we had a a park. Is it My backyard was a park.
27:23
And then there was a section of it that remained open all year.
27:27
And so they would flood it at winter and there was a a light
27:30
and everything. And it was a skating rink.
27:33
I'm more just astonished that you did something that involved
27:35
sports. I don't know, Was it sporty?
27:40
I mean, I could skate backwards. I couldn't skate backwards.
27:43
And I could never figure I could only skate backwards on on ice
27:46
skates because I could do it on roller skates.
27:48
I. Couldn't do it on roller skates
27:49
either. I could never figure that out.
27:51
I could. I could waltz.
27:52
Throw me nuts. And then I had I used to
27:54
rollerblade in my, my older teenage days.
27:56
We had a paved trail around our entire lake and I would go out
27:59
to exercise. I'd go rollerblade around the
28:00
whole lake. Yeah, still couldn't do it
28:02
backwards. I'd try and flip my uncle
28:03
backwards. I'd fall over every time.
28:05
Really. Every time.
28:05
Well, Rollerblade's a little more challenging, I think.
28:08
That I watch other people do it like, like, it's nothing.
28:10
Like they're just like, oh gosh. I could go out and roll skates
28:13
and I could waltz really with a partner and we could Just Dance
28:18
on skates. Sure.
28:19
Could you shoot the duck? I have shot the duck.
28:23
I couldn't do that either. I'd fall over every time.
28:25
Yeah, you know, we do have the best State Fair known as the
28:28
Great Minnesota Get together. It is the great Minnesota get
28:31
together. And it was recently, actually,
28:34
almost annually, it's rated one of the top 1-2 or three state
28:37
state fairs in the country. Yep.
28:38
They rated at #1 this last just last year I got.
28:40
Number one here, did you ever go to the State Fair?
28:42
I used to go quite often. Now we don't at all.
28:45
Yeah. And why people?
28:46
Too many people. Way too many people.
28:48
Every year they're setting records of hundreds of thousands
28:51
of people. Yeah, I think their busiest day
28:52
they had this last year, it was over 200,000 people at one day.
28:55
And why do you you want to be in that small space with 200,000?
28:58
People, I mean, it's fantastic people watching.
29:00
It is the food. You could just go there and sit
29:02
and not have to interact with all.
29:04
Those. Oh, totally good, totally good.
29:05
Yeah, have a beer. Yeah, and, and the food is
29:07
phenomenal. I love some of the food.
29:09
Fair food is is is the best. How about deep fried Snickers
29:13
candy bar? Never had one of those.
29:15
Oh my God, you talk about sweet. Is is that your favorite food at
29:19
the fair? When I was there the last time,
29:22
probably it was or deep fried Oreos.
29:25
Anything deep fried? Deep fried.
29:26
Okay, I have a couple. I go to the pork chop on a
29:29
stick. Okay, haven't had it very good,
29:31
but it's pork chops good. The Tom Thumb mini Donuts.
29:34
Why the Tom Thumb? Because there are different
29:36
vendors and Tom Thumb is a permanent location there and I
29:39
don't know what's different, but there's just are just the best.
29:42
That's like Marthas cookies. I see I don't like Martha's
29:44
cookies. Are you kidding?
29:46
Yeah, see, I, my, my wife makes really good chocolate chip
29:48
cookies and she throws some butterscotch chips in there and
29:50
yeah, phenomenal. So that's yeah.
29:52
Eileen, why don't I see a plate of them right now?
29:54
I shouldn't have brought this up.
29:55
It's all going to get yelled at. Yeah.
29:59
Sauce. My favorite.
29:59
And then dot dot, dot, dot was. There's mini.
30:02
Don't. The French fries are actually
30:03
there. It sounds weird.
30:04
They have a French fry stand. They sell nothing but French
30:06
fries. Yeah.
30:07
And they're fresh. Like, they, they, they, they,
30:08
they, they, they slice the potatoes right there and throw
30:10
them the deep thing. And yeah, they're so good.
30:12
They're so good. And then?
30:14
Could you imagine working in that all day long?
30:16
The grease that's in the air, oh, it's got, it's just got.
30:19
It's just sticking all over your body.
30:20
It's gross. And the last thing you have to
30:22
get for sure is a pronto bop. Not a corn dog.
30:25
Not a corn dog. OK, help me to see the
30:27
difference. So the corn dog is made with
30:29
cornmeal? Yes, and the Pronto pub.
30:31
Is more, but pancake is not. Yeah, it's more of a batter.
30:34
Yeah. I don't know if it's pancake
30:36
batter, but I think it's more like flowery, wheaty, kind of
30:39
OK. Kind of batter.
30:39
I prefer the corn dog, OK, because I do like the cornmeal
30:43
in there. Sure.
30:43
And what you put on your corn dog.
30:45
Catch your bed, mustard. No, no, no, no.
30:47
No. What do you put on it?
30:48
Just mustard. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
30:51
no, no. They they have the little, the
30:52
little little paintbrush and they paint one side yellow, one
30:55
side red. Yeah, no, only yellow.
30:56
No, no. Yellow.
30:57
Red. You're wrong.
30:58
You're wrong. And we also have the Mall of
31:01
America. Oh my God, it is the closest
31:03
thing to earth purgatory. It is, yeah.
31:05
It I don't think there's very many actual Minnesotans who go
31:08
to the mall. Oh.
31:08
God, no. I mean, it's just a touristy
31:10
thing. Yeah, just to work there.
31:11
That's it. Why would you go to the Mall of
31:12
America? I would never.
31:14
I've been there quite a few times.
31:15
This was when the kids were little.
31:17
We would go to Camp Snoopy. But to go there and shop it is,
31:21
it's horrible to me. To me, horrible.
31:23
It's huge. It's horrible.
31:25
Everything that's in there. I don't say everything. 90% of
31:27
what's in there. You can get 5-5 miles away at a
31:30
different mall or store or whatever.
31:32
And. And now online.
31:33
And online. So yeah, let's see a small kids.
31:35
You're going to Camp Snoopy. It's Nickelodeon universe now.
31:38
It will always be Camp Snoopy in my world.
31:39
Oh yeah, I think I just said camp.
31:40
Snoopy you did. Because it will always be Camp
31:42
Snoopy. Yep.
31:43
Yes, unless you're going there for that or even like the movie
31:47
theater. I mean, I, I, no, I don't want
31:48
to go there to see a movie. I want to go somewhere else.
31:50
It's just it's too big. Now, when it first opened back
31:54
in the 90s, I was in my 20s and the fourth level was nothing but
31:57
bars. Yeah, at that point in my life.
31:59
That was fun at. That point in my life, it's been
32:01
a lot of time. But when it first opened.
32:03
But it was just the fourth level, Yeah.
32:05
Where the bars were at, yeah. I would never go there to hang
32:07
out at the mall. We would go there to shop and we
32:09
would go there to do things, and my kids would have, you know,
32:12
shows and things there and they'd play the orchestra and
32:15
things that and so we'd go. But yeah, not anymore.
32:18
No, God, no. God, no, no.
32:19
They had a really cool piano bar there that was fun.
32:21
And yeah, it was fun. We should go to a piano bar.
32:23
I love piano bars. They're hard to.
32:25
Find them dueling piano. I know.
32:26
Yeah, they're fucking yeah anyway.
32:28
So I think there's there's one more kind of Minnesota nice.
32:32
We talked a little bit about it earlier.
32:33
It's expert level passive aggressiveness.
32:35
Yeah, we we do that pretty well. Oh, we're experts at it.
32:38
I mean you have to avoid conflict at all times.
32:40
At all times you have to. You don't want to hurt
32:42
someone's. Feel.
32:42
No, not at all. Not at all.
32:43
Until they turn around and leave, right?
32:44
Exactly. Then you talk about them, right?
32:47
We have their back. That's that's the Minnesota way
32:48
to do it. You always hide your emotions,
32:50
always don't share what you actually are thinking or
32:53
feeling. Well, that gets me in a lot of
32:55
trouble if I don't share what I'm actually.
32:56
Feeling right? Because then I have to always
32:59
backtrack. And so I meant to say this.
33:01
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's what that's sadly
33:04
what we do. Yeah, but I mean, we'd rather
33:05
talk about the weather than our feelings.
33:06
I like talking about the weather.
33:08
What I really like to do is complain about how the weather
33:11
apps do not actually predict the weather.
33:13
See you need a new app. I've tried them all.
33:16
No, you haven't. Not the one that's on top of
33:18
your rope. The one on top of my rope is
33:19
awesome. Yeah, I do want a company that
33:22
works outside. I have to be a little more in
33:24
tune to the weather than most normal people do, so we have to
33:26
plan. Yes, you do.
33:28
I understand that, yeah. And of course, the last thing,
33:30
the long goodbye. You know that we've beat to
33:32
death already. It starts with a whelp and
33:34
should probably get going and then waved goodbye in the
33:36
hallway and the sidewalk and then from the car and.
33:39
Didn't we just talk about the beginning of this podcast?
33:41
Yeah, so half an hour later, we're still talking about it.
33:42
So clearly, we're still doing the Minnesota goodbye.
33:44
We say goodbye. Right, we said goodbye in the
33:47
1st 2 minutes of this podcast, but we're still talking about
33:49
it. And not to get Rob too riled up
33:51
and on this childhood game of duck, duck, Gray duck, or
33:55
commonly no one elsewhere in the United States as duck, duck,
33:58
goose. It is not duck, duck, goose.
34:00
OK, you go. Around it is duck, duck, Gray
34:02
duck, whoever. Duck, duck, goose.
34:04
Who the hell wants to play duck, duck, goose.
34:06
How dumb is that? You go around and you sit in a
34:08
circle with all your little friends and the one person
34:11
patting all the heads goes, goes red duck, blue duck, purple
34:14
duck, orange duck. And they go Gray duck.
34:17
And then that's when they chase them around the circle and they
34:18
got to hurry up and sit down. What fun is going duck, duck,
34:22
duck goose? It's the same thing.
34:27
It is not It's lame. It's dumb.
34:31
We even had a vodka called Great Duck Vodka because.
34:34
Because it's Minnesota. It's Minnesota and it's water.
34:36
Because duck duck goose is not a thing.
34:37
It's stupid. OK, Oh my gosh, that's enough.
34:40
We should probably stop now before Rob heads.
34:43
Rob heads to see my veins throbbing.
34:44
I can't. So I think that kind of rounds
34:48
out and wraps up our how to be a Minnesotan.
34:50
Absolutely. You can import anybody with this
34:52
podcast now, right? Just follow our simple rules.
34:56
And we'll be real nice to you until you leave Tourist.
35:00
I'm. Kidding.
35:01
Go to the mall 3 Belong. And as always, please follow us
35:04
on the socials at Owen One More Thinkpod on Facebook and
35:07
Instagram for highlights and news of our upcoming shows.
35:10
And if you have a show idea for us or just want to give us some
35:13
feedback, send us an e-mail to o11morethingpod@gmail.com.
35:16
We'd love to hear from you. Yes, we would. 01 more thing.
35:20
Remembering some of these key terms and phrases will help you
35:23
fit right in. And it's not a turn signal, it's
35:26
a blinker. Yeah, and use it.
35:27
Don't get my road rage started. That's right.
35:29
All right. Bye everyone.
35:30
Bye. Ah cripes, I didn't talk about
35:33
lutefisk.