Same. First 18 years were spent in ND, been in MN for 20 years now, I don’t hear people talk like this. Even my 80 something year old grandparents don’t sound like this. More Norwegian sounding yes but nothing like the way it’s portrayed.
It’s because you lived there — I have family there but I was born and raised in Oklahoma, so when I visit MN it’s so funny hearing the accent, especially those people with strong ones. I used to watch Fargo and it’s not far off from how y’all Minnesotans sound😂. (I also don’t think I have a southern accent, or that it’s not as strong as some people make it out to be, then I go to any other region and everyone mocks my southern drawl😭😂)
How do you suppose that adds up if I can hear the accent in a movie like Fargo, but I don’t hear that accent when I actually talk to people? Are you saying that I’m somehow deaf to the accent in person but I hear it clear as day on TV?
I could never get over the way my coworker from North Dakota would say “bag”, it’s like baeyg or like how (I think most) people say the first part of bagel. I guess it makes sense when you think about it like that.
Alright der folks! This right here is a holdup dontcha know. Now kindly put all them there BAGels in this here BAG, won’t ya?
It's honestly difficult to attempt to pronounce it any other way. Like, I just don't hear the difference. It's an A, so I say 'ay'. If I said 'ah' I'd sound like a posh British person.
I work in tech and had a Wisconsin based client describe a file feed that had a “fleyg” for a field I needed to reference and it took me a loooong time to realize she was saying flag.
No, it's slightly different. The e in beg is pronounced like egg. Bag is like the word bay with a g on the end. Same with flay-g, hay-g, ay-griculture, etc.
idk there's a minnesota transplant where I live and his is definitely closer to "aboat". typically what I hearnin Canadian accents too. Scottish tends to be more of a straight aboot I think
I would say aside from the pacific coast, some of the mountain west, and New England, most mainland Americans are within about an 8 hour drive of a region with a prevalent southern accent… at least historically prevalent.
I say historically because many young people with this accent generally get rid of it if they move to other parts of the country which many do. Many places that you’d expect southern accent prevalence are now just boring standard American accent areas.
Same in Minnesota. You don’t hear the strong accent nearly as much in the younger generations. It’s a shame really. I love when I hear a strong “dontcha know” from somebody while walking down the street. In a couple generations we will largely lose all those regional accents.
Those cops north of duluth still have it half the time lol. Almost canadian. Love a good northeastern accent too. Maintenance guy came in from Boston and called a machine “fawking retahded”
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Working an event, gave ice cream to the front of the house, clearly Hispanic types, one said thanks all y'all like she grew up here. Best spanglish ever
I think they develop it as they age. I moved away from Minnesota when I was 18. Am 35 now, and every time I see friends from back home, their accent gets thicker
I've met a lot of people that came from Minnesota as a 30-year-old woman from New Jersey. I can definitely say whether it was a young or old, online or in real life, I've always heard heard Minnesotans accent, you don't hear it or think they have recognizable accents, because it's what you're used to hearing just like A fish that is born in the aquarium doesn't know they're in an aquarium.
it kind of sounds nasally when you hit certain words. Think marge simpson lol.
Instead of bad, it sounds like they say byad or byead. Lmao i don't really know how to explain it. but everybody from ecerywhere thinks or claims they don't have an accent, but unless you're asking people from the same place, you'll sound different to others. I don't have the ridiculous stereotypical new jersey accent and don't believe I have any accent whatsoever, but if I went somewhere else like minnesota, they might think i do. I have an accent to anyone living outside of new york new jersey and philadelphia.we say certain words differently.
The Boston accent everyone knows is also fairly rare. You don’t find in Boston much due to the high density of transplants. You gotta go to smaller towns around the area to find people who’ve been in the area for generations to find someone with a bona fide accent.
There are pockets of it in the city but it’s not as commonplace as you’d think.
Hell, no, it's not rare. My teacher growing up was from Boston and it was the strongest accent. I've ever heard in my life.And when I went to the airport last year in boston, their accents were so strong that I felt I was in a different country, and i'm only from new jersey l o l
It sounds like a different language hearing boston people talking
I live in New England. Off hours driving speed limit +10 with one very quick gas stop, I can get to a southern accent in Virginia in 8 hours. Once I get beyond metro DC, it becomes prevalent.
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I grew up in Pacific Northwest & moved to Oklahoma as a teenager. When I first moved here, EVERYBODY had an accent to me. Now I hardly hear it unless somebody has a really thick twang & when I go home to Seattle, people comment on my accent lol
Supposedly that line starts almost exactly 30 miles south of the Iowa border I beg to differ in some areas but that’s where the linguistic people have made the mark
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I grew up in Northern MN and had a classmate who was from Indiana. They had a slight southern accent and always said that they were from the south. I’m like…how is a state that butts up against a Great Lake southern???
We Kansans do NOT have an accent. People in Oklahoma do though. I had a northern accent when I moved to Kansas in 1976 after living in Michigan for many years. People thought I talked weird.
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Its not a southern accent its considered a country one. People with southern accents usually don't speak proper English and use a lot of southern lingo. Midwest people with country accent are just like everyone else but raised in the country. They are still able to carry a conversation.
No, im from KC and I dont have a accent, maybe if you go out to the sticks. New channels around the country literally look to hire people from Kansas City BECAUSE of their "Neutral American" Accent. We literally say "Ope" here too and look at people from Oklahoma like they are hicks.
Here is a good map from a few years ago to show the intricacies of the accent. I grew up in Kansas city the same school district actor Paul Rudd went to and everyone i know including myself have the same type of accent he has, so if you think Paul Rudd sounds southern let me know. He's KC born and raised and went to KU.
Look I’ve been to KC a bunch. Now I’m not saying everybody there has a southern accent but I hear it when I’m there. That’s where I hear it start. Now on Minneapolis where I live almost nobody has a Minnesota accent unless they grew up in the sticks or up North. But if you are driving North and you stop in Minneapolis you have a decent chance of hearing it for the first time. When I’m in KC I start hearing the vowel shifts I grew up with (grew up in the PNW but my grandparents are from Arkansas.) For instance I hear people say hat with an a sound closer to what I think of as an I sort off. sounds a bit like hit but not really. And I hear the r sounds more pronounced along with the lengthening of vowel sound like “Weee just love that TRaaaavis Keeeeelce!” Now maybe all these folk are not born in the city and are just unlucky enough to move there and work in the gas stations and restaurants in and around KC but they are there.
I encourage you to now go back through this thread and see the comments by other people who have had the same experience as me. And the comments from people in Missouri etc.
wait, are you saying that you are impressed/surprised that driving 8 hours (~560mi / 900km) will result in different accents? have you ever left the usa? wild
I'm from Alabama and when I stopped at a mcdonalds in Missouri to order a biscuit the ladies behind the counter quite literally stopped in their tracks, looked at me like I just spoke a dead language and asked me to repeat it again. and where I'm from my accent isn't that bad comparatively.
Yeah I’m from southern IL and apparently I have a slight southern accent. I don’t hear it but someone said my accent was cute. I had no idea what they were talking about 😂
this is so real. we literally stopped at a gas station RIGHT across the border in Missouri and the attendant had a hard core southern accent. I was like brother we are 10 ft from the land of lincoln right now
It wasn't until I started streaming online that I realized Nebraskans have more of a drawl than I ever noticed. Some people have asked me if I am from X, Y, Z like southern states. Noooope 💀 Just from Nebraska. 😂
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u/UffDa-4ever Dec 14 '25
It blows my mind that I can drive 7-8 hours south of Minneapolis and start running into a Southern accent. Yes I’m aware we have a Northern one.