After retrieving kids from after-school activities and in need of a quick dinner, I recently picked up a $5 pizza at the Little Caesars in Duluth's Lincoln Park.
It isn't my neighborhood, and I don't drive around there much, but it occurred to me that the Haines Road hairpin turn had just been reopened after repairs from the 2012 flood. For some reason, this seemed like an exciting adventure.
"Oh!" I said. "We could go up the new road they just fixed!"
Both kids doubled over in laughter.
"You said that so Minnesotan!" my daughter said, repeating back, "Oah, goah up the noo roahd."
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I guess it must have been bad for my native Minnesotan children to be laughing at me.
Should I take that as a compliment that I usually don't sound "so Minnesotan"? Should I be concerned if I do? I do live in Minnesota, after all, so how else would I talk?
The event made me realize that I do try to temper my children's accents. If they say "hoose," I'll correct them with "house." If they say "no-ah," I'll tell them, "It's just 'no,' one syllable." And "them" has an "eh" sound in it; the word isn't "thum."
Do mothers in other parts of the country do this? Can you imagine an Alabama mom worrying that her kids ask for "tin dollars" instead of "ten"? Or a Boston mom worrying about all those dropped R's?
I went to college in Illinois, and once when I told someone I was from Minnesota, he asked, "Why don't you talk funny?"
"I moved around some," was my reply. I didn't even fight him on the sounding funny thing.
So, is a Minnesota accent funny? It's used for comedic purposes in plenty of TV shows and movies. Think of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," when the secretary says, "They think he's a righteous duude."
The stepmom in "Juno" asks, "Did you by any chance barf in my urn?" The line wouldn't be as funny if she didn't pronounce it "berf."
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"Arr peegent is naht a peep showe," explains a pageant mom in "Drop Dead Gorgeous."
And "Fargo," of course, was based in Minnesota but named after a North Dakota town, featuring an accent most Minnesotans wouldn't recognize, perhaps pawning it off on Canada. Still, it was funny.
But then there's "Miracle," where Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks rallies his team, saying, "Great moments are born of great opportunity."
Nobody laughs when he says "opportoonity."
So maybe the humor is in the combination of accent and content. My getting excited about driving on a new road brought out the Minnesota Mom in me.
Beverly Godfrey is a copy editor and columnist for the News Tribune. You can reach her at bgodfrey@duluthnews.com .
