# Fargo: Accents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809 "2010-07-15T18:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/21 "2010-07-15T19:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=AClockworkMelon] I feel like a complete retard. [/QUOTE] Hey, **AClockworkMelon**. Didja hear the one about the guy who couldn’t afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L-2404? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/22 "2010-07-15T19:46:47Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Wade’s an overbearing egomaniac who gets himself killed, but he’s not an idiot. And what evidence do we have that Scotty is an idiot? Because his grades were slipping? He’s smart, but he’s not gettin’ good grades. It’s the disparity that worries your father and me. Do you know what _disparity_ means? > [@](#): > > Didja hear the one about the guy who couldn’t afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L-2404? Yah, that’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/23 "2010-07-15T19:53:38Z")
I had dinner in a Perkins’ in Minnesota once. (It was terrible, btw.) The waitress responded to all of my requests with a cheery “you betcha!”. I was so delighted I had to call my mom to let her know. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/24 "2010-07-15T19:58:21Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Frankly I thought Marge was a genius. She’s such a Sooper Lady! ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/25 "2010-07-15T20:05:55Z")
I grew up in a small town between Minneapolis and Duluth. The further north and more rural you are, the thicker the accent. It’s more noticeable in older people. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/26 "2010-07-15T20:07:35Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > How accurate are the Canadian accents in _Fargo_? Just curious. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I thought it was set in Canada. Lived in Arizona all my life and never heard accents like it. The only possible response to this is: I’m not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/27 "2010-07-15T20:09:11Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Around Minneapolis 99.9% of the people DO NOT have that accent. But occasionally you run across someone who is a life long Minnesotan from Up Nort Der. While not as drastic as in the movie they do drop the “oh yah?” and “nooo” quite a bit. Y’know, you think that, when you live there. But trust me, when you move away, people right away figure out where you’re from. I don’t think I have much of a yooper accent (similar to but not exactly the same as the Fargo/Minnesota accent), and indeed, there are many people around me who have much stronger accents than I. But even after living close to 15 years away from here, I had people pick up on my accent and ask me if I was from Canada. Not everyone, but it happened once or twice a year. Now that I’ve been back here 8 years (to the day, today!), I shudder at what I must sound like. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/28 "2010-07-15T20:09:14Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I had dinner in a Perkins’ in Minnesota once. (It was terrible, btw.) The waitress responded to all of my requests with a cheery “you betcha!”. I was so delighted I had to call my mom to let her know. Did one of the busboys look just like River Pheonix? My friend and I saw Pheonix bussing tables at a Perkins near Minneapolis about 12 years ago, soon after he (apparently) faked his death. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/29 "2010-07-15T20:09:45Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Around Minneapolis 99.9% of the people DO NOT have that accent. But occasionally you run across someone who is a life long Minnesotan from Up Nort Der. While not as drastic as in the movie they do drop the “oh yah?” and “nooo” quite a bit. To me, one of the funniest things about the movie was hearing people who (to my admittedly untrained and unsophisticated ear) sounded just like the characters in the movie complain about how ridiculous the accents were. Not saying you fall into that category, since I haven’t heard you speak. I suspect that, like most things in movies, it is heightened for effect, but I also think that people who say no one talks like that may be desensitized to it in everyday life. ETA: And of course now I see you made a distinction between Minneapolis, which is as metropolitan as Minnesota gets, and the rest of the state. Also adding, I think there is an unfortunate tendency for people to associate regional accents and small-town ways with a lack of intelligence and sophistication. Marge is certainly an admirable, competent person. ETA: I probably just pissed off everyone in St. Paul. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/30 "2010-07-15T20:24:51Z")
My first wife was from the Iron Range area near Grand Rapids (MN, not MI), and I spent a lot of time in that area on family visits. The accent was very pronounced, but not as bad as in _Fargo._ I can hear a modified version of it in my kids now; they’ve been living near MSP for the past 15 years and have unconsciously picked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/31 "2010-07-15T20:26:06Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > ETA: I probably just pissed off everyone in St. Paul. Oh, yah. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/32 "2010-07-15T20:35:25Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Y’know, you think that, when you live there. But trust me, when you move away, people right away figure out where you’re from. > > I don’t think I have much of a yooper accent (similar to but not exactly the same as the Fargo/Minnesota accent), and indeed, there are many people around me who have much stronger accents than I. But even after living close to 15 years away from here, I had people pick up on my accent and ask me if I was from Canada. Not everyone, but it happened once or twice a year. > > Now that I’ve been back here 8 years (to the day, today!), I shudder at what I must sound like. I came to Chicago for college and have been here for 7 years now. When I first arrived at school many people were amused by my accent. It faded over time, but I think is still there a little. When I do go back home, though, I am able to hear the MN accent in a way I couldn’t before. If I spend some time there, mine comes back a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/33 "2010-07-15T20:51:29Z")
I’ve lived about the last 25 years in North Dakota and Minnesota. The accents in _Fargo_ are comic exaggerations, but not complete fabrications. There is a Scandanavian lilt, but it’s usually not as pronounced as in the movie, and people do say “you betcha.” Sarah Palin, even though she’s from AK, not ND/MN has an accent very close to what’s typical here. There are some very rural people or very old school folks up here who really do have accents almost as broad as those in the movie. To draw an analogy to the South, you know how there’s kind of a normal Southern cadence for most people, but then there’s still a few Boomhauers around who really do have accents thick enough to be self-parody? _Fargo_ pretty much takes the Boomhauer equivalents for up here and makes EVERYBODY talk that way. An actor who does a really good job of a Minnesota accent without being too broad is Kurt Russell playing Herb Brooks in _Miracle_. He nails it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/34 "2010-07-15T21:06:09Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > [Here you go](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/), you hoser. Beat me to it. Take off. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/35 "2010-07-15T21:17:03Z")
I liked the accents in _Drop Dead Gorgeous_. Those cracked me up. Oh ya, Frida, sure. She was the oldest living Luthern. Now she’s dead as a doornail. It’s dem damn Shriner’s, won’t take down the God damn sign the lazy sons of bitches. Every year, every damn year I tell dem, “Take down the God damn Frida sign, you lazy sons of bitches!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/36 "2010-07-15T21:47:14Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Sarah Palin, even though she’s from AK, not ND/MN has an accent very close to what’s typical here. Makes me wonder – what part of the country did most white American settlers to Alaska come from? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/37 "2010-07-15T21:58:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Makes me wonder – what part of the country did most white American settlers to Alaska come from? Most of the settlers in the Mat-Su Valley (where she lives) were farmers from the midwest, offered land in exchange for settling there. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/38 "2010-07-15T22:09:06Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I feel like a complete retard. Thanks for the response. > > I thought it was set in Canada. Lived in Arizona all my life and never heard accents like it. My stepmother is from Arizona (guess where my dad’s from). I watched _Raising Arizona_ with her once and she said the accents were unrealistic. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/39 "2010-07-15T22:14:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Makes me wonder – what part of the country did most white American settlers to Alaska come from? I too have wondered from where Palin drew her accent. Whenever I hear her voice I think of Marge Gunderson in the movie Fargo. She has the caricatured accent and colloquialisms down, everything except the "Oh, Yah"s. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809/40 "2010-07-15T22:21:34Z")
The ting about that accent is that it’s from the land of looong winters. When your face is half frozen for months at a time, you get that sound. A lot of the idioms and the ‘Minnesota nice’ maybe regional, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fargo-accents/546809.md?page=3)