NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

March 19, 1998

Plains Folk: More of "You Must Be From North Dakota If..."

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

©1998 Plains Folk

Weeks ago I offered a column of North Dakota-isms couched in the "you-must-be-from-North-Dakota" formula. You know, along the lines of, "If your kids' baseball or softball games have ever been snowed out," or, "If you expect to be excused from school for deer season," then "you must be from North Dakota." Then I invited readers to send in their own items.

And they did. Forty-eight people wrote me with suggestions—33 from North Dakota, two each from Iowa, South Dakota, Oregon and Kentucky, and one each from Arizona, Wisconsin, Montana, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida and Idaho. I believe that all the responses from out of state were from expatriate North Dakotans.

Honestly, I expected some people to be angry with me for making fun of the Flickertail State, but I received not one angry letter. Rather the correspondents seemed downright gleeful; some lists of items ran two pages or more. I think this is a healthy sign. Times are good when people poke fun at themselves. That's the Great Plains spirit.

I promised to put together a poster and send a copy to all contributors, and I will. In addition, I've posted the whole darned collection at my web site.

Go to http://rrnet.com/~plains/youmust.htm .

It seems to me the responses fall into certain broad and fairly predictable categories— beginning, of course, with the weather. You might be from North Dakota if...

• you think of something other than the Bible when you hear the words, "The Great Flood."
• you think "cold weather gear" means a flask of schnapps.
• you drive to town during a blizzard just to see if the weather man knows what he's talking about.
• you know the four seasons—Winter, Still Winter, Not Winter and Almost Winter.
• your husband thinks sexy lingerie is a flannel nightgown with only eight buttons.
• you design your Halloween costumes to fit over snowmobile suits.
• you've attended a formal affair, in your best dress, wearing your finest jewelry and your Sorels.
• the forecast is for 60 mile per hour winds, 3 feet of snow, 60-below wind chills, and the highway is full of people from any small town going to any big city, even if it's 120 miles, just to shop, or for the absolutely necessary reason of attending a basketball tournament.

Yes, North Dakotans live with the elements, and close to nature, too. In fact,

• If you lie awake thinking of uses for leafy spurge,
• If you get claustrophobic in other states where you can't see the scenery for all the trees and mountains,
• If you assume everybody has seen Northern Lights and sundogs,
• If you call that hill "the Turtle Mountains,"
• If you remember one of your family traditions as honking at the tree between New Rockford and Carrington every time you passed it, because it was the only tree around,
• If you cried when the tree was cut down,

then, of course, you're from North Dakota. We can tell when you open your mouth, too, because,...

• If after you have discussed the weather, conversation declines,
• If you "manure the barn,"
• If you refer to a snack as a "bunny lunch,"
• If you understand that "Yah y'betch yah" means either "I agree" or "You're full of it" and you know the difference,

you are, indeed, from North Dakota.

###

Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339

Editor: Barry Brissman (701) 231-7866