It’s official.

I am truly a Northlander. Today, I uttered this sentence:

“I parked all kittywhompus because I was trying not to hit that cat in the alley. Oh, for stupid.”

It only took 9 years.

29 Comments

Clear Waters

about 14 years ago

Ya sure ewe betcha. Shuda taken just a few years fer most foreigners. Yup. Welcome. Come over for some hotdish and it's official!

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

Now you just need to purge the word "Northlander" from your vocabulary.

Swan

about 14 years ago

"Northlander" is a media term, rarely, if ever, used by Duluthians.

Prof. Cricket

about 14 years ago

As is "outstate."

Prof. Cricket

about 14 years ago

But what word to describe it's official would she used if it wasn't "Northlander"?

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago

The reason people hate the word "northland" is it's a term without a boundary. Where does the northland begin and end? If Duluth is in the northland, obviously Canada is too, right? And why wouldn't most of Europe be, for that matter? Is Iowa in the northland? 

Jessige is talking Minnesotan. I believe Howard Mohr established this many years ago.

Prof. Cricket

about 14 years ago

Well, I moved south when I moved here, so I always thought "Northland" was curious term.

Iowa is known as the "Heartland."

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

The lack of boundaries doesn't bother me so much as the fact that no one actually says it except for local TV news personalities.

TheHairyMan

about 14 years ago

There's North of 2, and there's everywhere else.

TopOfTheHillMan

about 14 years ago

Just the fact that you used the phrase "for stupid" proves you're a northlander. If you start using "don't no never mind" then you need to head out of town soon.

freebird218

about 14 years ago

The "Northland"...for newscasters and carlots, apparently.

I tend to use it more when I write than speak, though. You betcha.

bluenewt

about 14 years ago

"Northland" is like "youngster." Who says youngster, other than TV news people? 

"Northland youngsters reported thunderstorm activity impacting area roadways."

dbb

about 14 years ago

Some crappy little burg in the cities voted to make 'Minnesotan' their official language last night.

Sam

about 14 years ago

Oh, that is for cute!

RS

about 14 years ago

A friend of mine, who lived here and graduated from here, moved to centeral Illinois near Peoria and when I would go to visit him, his friends who were from that area asked me "Where are you from?"  "about 20 minutes from Duluth"  "Ohh, do you like living in Canada?" WTF?!?!  These were 20-something people, one of whom I was fairly sure had even went to college!

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago

What college taught you how to spell "central," RS?

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Sonya

about 14 years ago

As a Northland alum, when I hear the term Northland I think of the college, so it bother me on a whole 'nother level when people use "Northland" to describe the entire region.

Sonya

about 14 years ago

Although it should be said that Northland the college was named after Northland the region, so people were using the term as of the 1890s anyway.

Beverly

about 14 years ago

It's not just TV. Headline writers are not going to let "Northland" die, either. Although I think you're less likely to see "Northlander" in a newspaper than you are to hear it on TV.

Julian

about 14 years ago

Ha ha, "for stupid." Yes, this is true.

And, I'm really glad to see plenty of other people hate the term "Northland" for the same reasons I do!

jessige

about 14 years ago

Here's what's funny about "northlander":

After I posted, I thought, "crap, that's not right at all."  But I figured it was disingenuous to edit, considering the topic.

Guess you can take the girl out of sconnie, but you can't take the sconnie out of the girl. Maybe I'm just a successful hybrid. Transplant?  Graft?

northlander

about 14 years ago

What's so bad about the term northland?  It's not as good as "da UP" or anything, but I kind of like it (I'm a transplant if that matters). Most Canadians live south of us.  And what's so bad about having vaguely inclusive borders?  What should we call the region then?

yearofglad

about 14 years ago

I'm not a big fan of the term 'northlander', but Minnesotan doesn't work so well either. In my experience, people from southern MN don't embrace the culture. The accent and vocabulary is more of a northern thing, anyways.

rediguana

about 14 years ago

As another Northland (the college) alum, I say people should quit being so damn anal about their terminology. Do we know what "Northlander" refers to in general? I think so. Now will someone please borrow me an ice auger for catching Northerns?

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

I do want to apologize to jessige for semi-hijacking the post. Also, I'd like to point out that you started a sentence with the word "crap," which means you really do have the vocabulary down.

RS

about 14 years ago

@ Paul, frankly my life is far too short to bother worrying about my spelling.  Plus, you seemed to be able to understand what I said, but if you feel your life is better spent nitpicking others, then have at it. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago

My point was that misspelling a word and not knowing where Duluth is are both pretty minor infractions. Perhaps I made that point poorly or failed to make it. Either way, we can agree that life is too short.

jessige

about 14 years ago

Oh, fer nice, Barrett.  You didn't have ta.

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

Here's something: Around here we say "kittywampus," but elsewhere they say "cattywampus." Kittywampus gets no results on dictionary.com, but cattywampus does, as it's a variant of catawampus. Huh.

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