I grew up in central Minnesota, a bit over an hour's drive west of the Twin Cities. Yes, I still wear a Minnesota Twins baseball cap from time to time here in the heart of Seattle Mariners fandom.
My slight midwestern drawl combined with the gradual acquisition of a northwestern accent has led to occasional accusations of being Canadian, but I have never even visited that relatively balmy and tropical nation. For those unfamiliar with the unique Minnesotan language and culture, I advise consulting the scholarly text How to Talk Minnesotan by Howard Mohr, or watching the documentary produced in 1993 by Twin Cities PBS. It's not too bad.
Photo by the author - The old family farm in northern Minnesota, June 2017
What a small word I grew up not too far from the Twin Cities myself.
Funny enough I had a best friend who has your first name here.
I don't remember any time-traveling cats, much less any tabbies specifically.
Doubtful we know each other unless you are currently living in Texas.
Looks through window
Nope. Too much snow, too many mountains.
You get to have mountain views! How wonderful :)
Wow, amazing to me that you've never visited Canada since you spent your whole life a stone's throw from the border. When I was in NY I used to go over quite often. It's a beautiful country and the people are usually awesome (except for that one time in Montreal when I met some of the rudest people on the planet). The beer's not half bad either. And you can't beat that tropical Canadian winter, eh?
I've always thought the Midwestern accent was similar to the Canadian accent so it's not surprising to me that people mistake you for that. Lots of cultural similarities unsurprisingly. It is an imaginary line on a map after all.
Alas, by the time I was in any position to travel on my own, the government gestapo started demanding, "papers please!" And I never bought the right permission slips.
Showing my age here. We used to go over to drink when I turned nineteen. The Canadians were more thorough when we would go over the border. They actually asked us "citizenship?" The US border guards would just wave us past, sometimes laughing at the guy in the back seat with the spins. Oh how things have changed.
Dontcha know ehy! Wisconsinite here. The Minnesotan accent is one of a kind. Canadian in nature, but Midwestern in style!
A few years ago the boss [wife] and I were in Nashville doing the tourist thing.
At lunchtime, we went into a small restaurant, ordered hamburgers and chips, ooops, you guys mean crisps, we thought french fries.
We had our lunch, got up to leave when one of the other patrons, about six feet tall, 5 axehandles wide across the shoulders, [I won't say his knuckles dragged on the floor, but they were close] who was between us and the door, stood up and said: "You ain't leavin'".
A quick check, is there a back way out of here? can we dodge him and reach freedom?.
Before we could do anything he carried on,"We love your accent, where are you from?.
We sat and talked to them for another cup of coffee and half an hour before we could leave.
We did find the Southern drawl the most different to our speech.
The diversity of dialects across the US is quite broad, especially along the east coast as you travel north to south. I think the UK is the only English-speaking country with more.
It was very interesting to talk to the people and then ask where they came from.
We were at a display, from the back of the crowd came a very strong cockney accent.
We turned to look who had asked the question, as you do. She was purple-black, the last looking person I would have expected.
Very nice post @jacobtothe!!
Excellent style very beautiful nature is fantastic I love to appreciate it in such beautiful images greetings
My comment is around the picture...I know MANY people around here that would love to have that!!!
Well that sure is a nice post. I like the foto. Betcha love havin' the mountains near by. That's the one thing I miss living here in the land o'lakes don'tcha know. You come back for a visit. The snow has finally started falling again and it cold enough all that holiday fat will keep you from dying of exposure.