Regional Stereotypes Involving College Selection

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<p>April Mom 04: It's too bad that with all your acquired sophistication you were unable to grasp that this thread CELEBRATES regional differences. No need to put down your midwestern relatives for their provincial quirks--240 posts here show that we ALL have them...from New York City to New York Mills, MN. Since you were born and raised here, you surely remember that just about the worst sin you can commit is announcing your superiority over the folks at home. Tsk!</p>

<p>Without further ado, weighing in from the upper, UPPER Midwest:</p>

<p>The True Minnesotan:</p>

<p>Always puts his cart back in the cart corral, always has change for every Salvation Army Bucket, and never butts in line.</p>

<p>Has been to a meat raffle.</p>

<p>Knows that the Norwegians eat their lefse with butter and sugar, and the Finns eat theirs with meatballs. ( You betcha it's homemade.)</p>

<p>It's not the temperature, it's the windchill. In fact, schools close because of the windchill.</p>

<p>A child born during the duck or fishing opener is never allowed to forget it.</p>

<p>Is prepared to discuss the relative merits of fatheads vs. shiners.</p>

<p>Sex is good, but not as good as fresh sweetcorn. (paraphrasing Garrison Keillor)</p>

<p>You can put a complete meal on the table which consists entirely of foods you have grown or caught or hunted. That feels good.</p>

<p>Just about every Lutheran Church puts on a lutefisk dinner...and it sells out. Since no one under the age of 70 eats lutefisk, no one can figure out where all these people are coming from...scary, isn't it?</p>

<p>You, and everyone else you know, is carping about global warming. We never get our favorite thing anymore...70 inches of snow. : (</p>

<p>Half the people in any club went to St. Olaf together. ( Um Ya Ya!)</p>

<p>Even after a long cold winter, you would never consider going on vacation during the State High School Hockey Tournament. If you are not at the Ex, you are watching on TV. If you can't watch TV, the radio is on. (And even if you live in The Cities, you secretly root for a team from The Range.)</p>

<p>You are boycotting Stub and Herb's until they take the Clem Haskins sandwich off the menu. Idiots!!</p>

<p>You spend every summer weekend "up north" at the cabin.</p>

<p>In the movie "Fargo" you knew it was a woodchipper waaay before they showed it. Woodchippers and chainsaws...musical memories of childhood.</p>

<p>You hate showoffs. In some parts of the state, showing off includes getting new carpeting.</p>

<p>Come out and see us!</p>

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<p>Okay ezduzzit, if you tell me what a "meat raffle?!" is, I'll explain about jubilees - oh, and fresh sweet corn is really good down here,too - just got to get the pot boiling before you walk to the field, and take the kids to run back with the corn.</p>

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<p>ezduzzit--what is a "meat raffle." Is that something new, or did I just miss out growing up in South Dakota? Anyway, your post brings back memories. Yes, fresh sweetcorn is to die for. Have you ever had krub? Or blood sausage?</p>

<p>One of the last times I was back in Minnesota I picked up a t-shirt for my son with the slogan "I have a crappie attitude" and a picture of a crappie (it's a fish). We had a long discussion as to the correct pronunciation. I say it's crappie, but some of the relatives insist it is pronounced "croppie." Which is right?</p>

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<p>In Oklahoma I grew up prouncing that fish "croppie" as in a crop you plant in a field.</p>

<p>Down here it's not the heat, it's the humidity.</p>

<p>(Or the other version - it's not the heat, it's the stupidity)</p>

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<p>Oh yeah, it is "croppie" in Alabama, too, don't really know what is correct.</p>

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<p>ezduzzit - I lived in Norway for many years (during the '80's) and never met anyone
who ate Lutefisk! Jul dinners of choice (depending on area) were either ribbe, pinnekjott or kalkun. May 17th was something to behold.</p>

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<p>Assuming we're talking about the same fish--basically a black-and-white (as opposed to technicolor) sunfish, the northeastern pronunciation has always been crappie, as far as I've ever heard. And I caught a lot of them as a girl. Perhaps our genteel southern friends prefer a more polite-sounding pronunciation.</p>

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<p>A meat raffle, folks, is just that! You buy a dollar ticket and they spin a wheel, and you might win a package of steaks or whatever. They do it at local-yokel type taverns. It's almost as good as a turkey shoot, which is a trap shooting event where you win frozen turkeys.</p>

<p>We say "croppies" here, though I'd rather eat a punkinseed or a bluegill. My husband doesn't really like fish, but he catches them for me--he says it's a spectator sport to watch me go through a plate! Yum!</p>

<p>The lutefisk dinners are really cute. You can sign up to be on the meatball team, the mashed potato team, fllatbrot team, etc. But the elders do the lefse and the lutefisk. They are down in the church kitchen with big barrels to soak the fish, and they laugh and talk and carry on. I swear it smells like putting your head in a diaper pail, but it is a festive scene. The wild part is that this isn't a little country church--it is in a very nice suburban area!</p>

<p>I love that show on the food channel where they go around the country to the various local festivals. Supplements all the fun travel diversity we have in this country. </p>

<p>Now if you are really good, I'll tell you the secret of how not to be cold this winter...</p>

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<p>On "Yahooligans" the audio voice pronounces it 'croppie'</p>

<p>I also found an alternative spelling of 'croppie'</p>

<p>However, 'crappie' appears to be an alternative pronounciation too</p>

<p>Yes, Driver, considering our southern sensibilities, we at least try to sound polite.</p>

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<p>In Georgia, it's also pronounced "croppie" but spelled "crappie" and there are two types, black crappie and white crappie. </p>

<p>and in Georgia, we also carry a purse.</p>

<p>:) I love this thread.</p>

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<p>I also carry a pocketbook. Makes my kids break out in laughter every time I say it. Here in Southern California, daughter uses a purse, but often just says "my bag"</p>

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<p>This really has to be one of our best threads. I cannot tell you how much I have learned (especially since I have never left the coast, even going to mexico, we went to cancun). It has really given me a great appreciation of how others live and and shows me that I really need to get out more.</p>

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<p>Ya gotta love this country.</p>

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<p>Sybbie...I laugh when you say you have to "get out more." I get your point with regard to travel, but ya know, you have SO many types from all over in that little city of yours (Manhatten). </p>

<p>Well, at least there is the internet where we all meet up from all over the world, kinda cool, don't ya think? The many perspectives from people from such varied places and background on the CC forums has been one of the best parts of it, I think.</p>

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<p>I'm still laughing about the "croppie" thing, because I caught dozens and dozens of crappies with my cousins when I was a kid, and we always laughed about how such a great fish could have such a gross name. There was even a special lure we bought, called a "crappie-killer" because it was just a sure-fire hit every time you put it in the water. But I never heard "croppie" until just now.</p>

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<p>In Mississippi: crappie pronounced "croppie", aka "white perch"
In Louisiana: the same fish is a "sac au lait"</p>

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<p>Ooh la la. With a name like sac au lait, you could even serve crappie here at Le Bec Fin.</p>

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<p>A sac au lait recipe for all my CC friends. (I haven't tried it, but sounds interesting)
<a href="http://cajunquest.net/id100.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://cajunquest.net/id100.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>We've caught many a "croppie" down here in Texas. That recipe sounds good with any kind of fish! Wish I still had some bass that my husband caught up in Minnesota. Thanks for the recipe!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
You hate showoffs. In some parts of the state, showing off includes getting new carpeting.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Loved that one, EZ. BTW, I've been to a couple of meat raffles--but not in the US.</p>