Martin County Star Newsmakers

Regional Slang Showdown: When Southern Kids Meet Minnesota Words

Michael Ennis

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0:00 | 13:55

Introducing the Newsmakers Podcast

Speaker 1

All right , we are here . This is Newsmakers Podcast . I'm Mike Ennis , I'm your host and I've got a couple of visitors with me today and I'll get to them in just a minute . So tonight is the first home game for the Mavericks football . They had their opener last week but it was away . Unfortunately , they lost that one . But they're home tonight .

Speaker 1

That always makes a big difference , so hopefully you can get out and see them . Otherwise , hope you're having a beautiful day today . Almost cold out Felt , very fall-ish , I think . The high was like 59 degrees . Some places . You're probably saying , oh , that sounds perfect and it was so .

Speaker 1

Like I said , I have a couple of visitors with me today . Our grandkids stopped in from Atlanta area . They live in Stockbridge , but it's Atlanta area and they're here for a couple of days and we've been having lots of fun and so I invited them to be on the podcast with me and I thought we'd do something kind of fun . So first of all , let me introduce them to you . This is Ellie Mae . Ellie say hi , hi , okay , and this is Max ,

Meeting Ellie and Max from Atlanta

Speaker 1

max , hi . There we go . And then we're going to play a little game . They've got buzzers , so Ellie hit your buzzer . All right , max , there we go , all right . So I'm going to ask a question Then , whoever rings in , okay , first , then you get to answer the question , okay , so what we're going to do is them being from the South .

Speaker 1

You know , we all have different words for the same thing a lot of times , right ? So I thought we'd play a game . I'll ask you what this means and this is like a Minnesota type of word and then , if you figure it out , fine . If not , then we'll talk about it and see what word you would use in the South . Okay , now these are both millennials . No wait , you're Gen Z's , right , yes ? Or Gen H or something , something like that , I don't know . They run out of Gens . Now they're making stuff up Gen Alpha , you know it's like oh , for heaven's sakes , come on .

Speaker 1

Anyway , let's go to the first one . This is one we use called Ufda .

Minnesota vs. Southern Words Game

Speaker 1

Should have seen their faces , folks . What do you think it means ? You want some context ? Yes , all right , let me think you sing .

Speaker 1

Somebody walks in to the house and you jump up Happy birthday , and they go Ufda , okay , congratulations . It's an expression of surprise . You know . It can be A wide range of emotions , like surprise and exhaustion , to relief or astonishment . You know , I hear you're pregnant . Oof-da , you know .

Speaker 1

So what words would you use ? In the South ? We would just say congratulations . See , ours is shorter . Yeah , it's Ufda . All right , here's one .

Speaker 1

Skål , yeah , ellie . Skål , huh , skål , no , no , no , this is a Norwegian term and what it means is a chair , and they do this at all the Minnesota Viking football games . They have a big guy that stands there and he goes this and they all go school , you know , and they do that Because up here , you know , a lot of the people are Norwegian . Yeah , yeah , yeah , that's interesting , yeah , yeah . So what do you all do down ? Nothing , nothing , okay , here's one uh , this is a filler phrase , it's tacked on to the end of a sentence and it's a don't you know . We say don't you know . You know like , um , hey , there's a football game tonight , don't you know ? And you're like well , yeah , I know , you know , here's a really good one , borrow me . Borrow me , like to lend something . Yeah , yeah that you're asking for a loan . Hey , could you loan me your wrench ? Can you borrow me a wrench ? That makes more sense , that makes sense to you . Yeah , all right , you would just say can you loan it to me , right , yeah , I kind of like that . You would just say , can you loan it to me , right , yeah , I kind of like that , borrow me . Oh , here's one you're going to like .

Speaker 1

You go to church , right , and somebody sings a song . At the end they get done , they walk up . So what did you think of my song ? And you say , well , I didn't hate it . It's almost kind of a slap in the face , isn't it ? Yeah , yeah , it's kind of sarcastic . You know , it wasn't terrible . You know , oh , I didn't hate it . And you're like , oh , gee , wasn't that very good , was it All right , borrow me , don't ?

Speaker 1

You know ? Hold on , oh , food thing , you guys go to a potluck at church . I've never been to one , you , I've never been to one . You've never been to a potluck at church ? No , in your whole life , never . Your churches don't have a potluck . Mm-mm , we do cake walks , okay , well , I'm just okay .

Speaker 1

We go to a church and we have what they call a pot . You know what a potluck is ? Yes , you do . It's like you bring a dish , yeah , yeah , you bring a dish and you share it , and it's potluck . Everybody just . Oh , I came to one here last time . Oh , okay , see , it's a potluck . Yeah , up here you would take it down . In the south you would take a casserole dish , correct , up here it's called a hot dish . A hot dish , a hot dish Took us a while to always thinking well , yeah , it's going to be hot .

Speaker 1

Probably one day it'll hit us . Oh , you mean a casserole ? Okay , bars , you know what that is Like ? Chocolate bars . Yeah , you're good at this game . Yeah , it's like brownies . We need you to make some bars . Then they're saying make some brownies or make some fudge , or something like that . Right , those are bars . Something you cut into bars . Yeah , yeah , exactly , boy , you're good . I didn't know what that was for a long time I couldn't figure it out . So , can a pie be a bar ? No , no , no , I tried , I tried . I guess that could be more like a frisbee , more like a what ? More like a frisbee ? Yeah , maybe .

Speaker 1

Okay , what do you guys call a soft drink ? Soda , you call it soda . We always grew up calling it a Coke , no matter what the drink was . We'd say , hey , I want a Coke . And then they'd say , okay , well , I don't really want a Coke , but that's what I want is a soda Up here , yeah , yeah , my little sister always said that too . She said I want pop . I'd say what kind of pop do you want , you know ? So , okay , that's good , and let me see any others . That's pretty good , that's pretty close .

Speaker 1

So you guys live in

Life in Georgia vs. Minnesota

Speaker 1

the Atlanta area . Is it hot there ? Always , it's always hot , almost always , almost always . But winter times are really cold . It's either too hot or it's too cold Otherwise . Otherwise it's perfect , otherwise perfect , doesn't usually .

Speaker 1

So what did you say , ellie , about winters ? They're really cold , really cold , like what's really cold 20 . 20 . What do you get ? Huh , what do you get ? We get minus 20 sometimes . Oh , how much snow do you get ? Huh , what do you get ? We get minus 20 sometimes . Oh , how much snow do you guys get ? Normally None , none , yeah , None . Yeah , we did get some last year . Yeah , you did .

Speaker 1

We didn't get much up here last year , to be honest with you , but we always get , I mean , anywhere from 12 to 40 inches of snow in a year , maybe more . That would be your dream . This year we got a half inch . Yeah , we got like a half inch earlier this year . Yeah , oh , you mean back in like January . Yeah , okay , all right , it's about what we got . I mean , we really didn't have much this past year , but we know it's going to hit us this year because we've had two really nice winters . Yeah , you guys know you ever seen a guy with a blade , a snow blade , on the front of his truck and he pushes snow ? Mm-hmm , you have Okay , yeah , okay , down here , every truck's got one on the front of their truck . Yeah , they all drive with them on the front of their trucks because you know you get lots of snow . You get lots of snow .

Speaker 1

So , yeah , what are you going to do after you graduate , ellie ? Any clues ? I want to be an entrepreneur . Oh , you do . Yeah , you and Kennedy , her cousin , kennedy , my other granddaughter they want to . Huh , she quit on me , she quit . Huh , she quit on me , she quit on you , she quit on me . Are you on your own now ? Yes , so , ellie , and Kennedy is just now .

Speaker 1

Ellie , yes , what are you going to be an entrepreneur ? Doing you still doing the fro-yo shop ? I really like ice cream . I have an addiction to ice cream . Yeah , probably something like that . Out of all of us , she has the worst addiction to ice cream . She has the worst addiction to ice cream . Yeah , okay , but Froyo isn't that frozen yogurt , it is . It's basically ice cream . Yeah , basically , it's just smoother . Yeah , it is . You ever had custard ? Yeah , that's good too . Yeah , I think it's even smoother . Okay , max , what are you going to do ? Just bother , ellie , I have no clue . I'll go to my basement . Well , you think so .

Speaker 1

Now , to be fair , though , folks , ellie is 14 , right , yes , and she's in . I think we said 9th grade , 9th or 10th , 9th or 10th grade . They're homeschooled , and so sometimes the grading gets a little bit muddled , because in some areas you're in 9th grade , some areas you're in 10th grade , you know , and so they get a little confused . But their grandmother down there is their teacher , and she's done an amazing , amazing job for the last . However many years you guys have been doing this . 14 , well , yeah , and she does a great job . She's a wonderful person , I love her and , you guys , I'll match their education up against anybody . Anybody . Max is in . What do you think ? Sixth grade , max . Sixth or seventh ? Yeah , yeah , yeah . And so when I ask them what they're going to do , it's you know , golly , I'm not sure what I want to be yet when I grow up . That's fair , right .

Speaker 1

So what do you think about Minnesota ? You've been here several times . It's quite fun and cool . Small town , small town , I like that size of shorts . They're using shorts this morning . Yeah , yeah , I was close to that . I was going to say that woke you up , didn't it ? Yeah , what do you think about a small town ? I like small towns . Yeah , I really like small towns

The Castle They Call Home

Speaker 1

. Now , to be fair , once again , they live outside of Atlanta , in a town called Stockbridge , which here is like maybe 75,000 people . Yeah , so here we call that a big city , but based on Atlanta , it's a small town , but they have a castle as their home . Their dad and mom , before they were ever born , went to Europe on vacation and your mom , our daughter , fell in love with castles and so when they got home , daniel , our son-in-law , he built her a castle .

Speaker 1

How many bedrooms do you guys have ? Four , is there six , seven , three , four ? It's four , four . Okay , it's three stories . Three stories . Yeah , you have a , that's not . I guess it's four stories , ellie , that's not quite true , because technically there are four rooms that are upstairs and then downstairs . You got , there's also one downstairs , yeah , yeah , the one we stay in normally . We have a library room . Yes , which room ? Which is also where they do their homeschooling , and it's two floors tall . Yeah , it's great . I love that . That's one of my favorite rooms .

Speaker 1

They have a movie room downstairs with big screen TV , movie chairs , indoor pool , which is broken , but it's still indoors . They have an elevator . Not a lot of houses have elevators , but it's actually indoors . They have an elevator Not a lot of houses have elevators but it's actually built like a castle . It looked like a castle . I love it when you come up at night and your lights are on At Christmas . Yeah , it looks amazing . It does . You're right , it's got the lights on . It looks like a giant face . It does , it does . It's really cool . It's really cool . It's kind of a one-of-a-kind type of thing , and so they're really lucky .

Speaker 1

They grew up in this amazing home and then they come and visit their papa and their meepa and we normally are always doing something . We're remodeling something . This time we're remodeling this place and all day today they helped by . They pulled weeds oh my gosh , candy and I are getting too old for that and they did it and they did such a great job .

Speaker 1

I would put an ad out for you , but you know you're leaving . We're going to renaissance festival tomorrow , gonna have fun . I've never actually been to one , so I'm looking for . Yeah , I've never been to one , they're , I'm looking forward . How have you not been to one ? I've never been to one . They're expensive , I've just never been there . Everything's

Plans for the Renaissance Festival

Speaker 1

a money charm ? Oh , of course it is , but we have free tickets . Yes , yay , for us , right . And so , anyway , we're going to go tomorrow to the Renaissance Festival and have a lot of fun . Then they're leaving from here and going to Chicago , where they're flying to Seattle to visit their other grandparents .

Speaker 1

Anyway , we've been having lots of fun and I thought I'd let you guys get to know our grandkids a little bit . This is Ellie Mae and Max , and I tell you what these are two of the hardest working kids you'll ever want to meet in your life , and we love them . So you can't have them , we're going to keep them All right . So , love them . So you can't have them , we're going to keep them Alright . So , yeah , that does it for us today . Folks , I will talk to you probably next week . Until then , adios , say goodbye guys , bye , bye . Oh yeah , we kind of forgot about it .