Midwesterner, never heard of the term nor heard it used
Midwesterner, have heard of the term but not heard it used
Midwesterner, have heard the term used but not by myself
Midwesterner, have used the term myself
Non-Midwesterner, never heard of the term nor heard it used
Non-Midwesterner, have heard of the term but not heard it used
Non-Midwesterner, have heard the term used but not by myself
Non-Midwesterner, have used the term myself
0voters
I’ve seen some YouTube videos about the use of the term ‘ope’, mostly notably from Charlie Berens, a Wisconsiner who makes humorous videos about being a Midwesterner.
For those who are not familiar, it’s a sort of a term of apology, or just a general purpose interjection. For example, if you almost bump into somebody you might say “ope, excuse me”. I’ll post a video below that explains it better, complete with a link to a Charlie Berens video.
I had thought when I first heard about ‘ope’, that it must be more of a Wisconsin thing, because I (SE Michigan born and raised) don’t ever say it, or remember hearing anybody I know say it. But lately I’ve started to realize that I sort of unconsciously do-- for me, it’s sort of a portmanteau of “oh” and “oops”. Or an “oh” sound where I close my lips off at the end to make the “p” sound. I do it at times like the aforementioned example “ope, excuse me”, or “ope, I just remembered…”.
But here’s the rub: have I been saying ‘ope’ all along, and just now became aware of it, or did I just recently incorporate it into my speech after learning of it?
Anyway, I enjoy regionalisms like this, like the discussed to death ‘soda / pop / coke’ thing, or how certain areas call water fountains “bubblers”. Apparently a certain swath of Wisconsin says ‘bubbler’ and, strangely, an area on the East coast that is at the same latitude, but virtually nowhere else. I did some googling awhile back, and learned that a traveling salesman had been selling water fountains under the brand name ‘bubbler’, and had worked his way from Wisconsin due East, so that’s how the name stuck in those two places, but for some reason not in that middle zone of his travels.
I’m not at all a midwesterner and I use it. Same meaning, but I think of it more as a corruption of “ok, welp”. But yes, sometimes “oh, oops, look at the <time, state of completion, error, etc>”. Just an all-purpose topic redirector, really.
And it’s funny because for the first few years “ope” became an online meme, I had no idea what they were talking about. Then I listened to myself doing it and thought “meh, doesn’t everybody do that?”
It’s not just you. When other Michiganders suggest that we say “ope” I tell them they’re wrong, because we don’t say it. What we say might approximate it due to our lack of ability to spell what we actually say, which is almost exactly as you describe: “a portmanteau of ‘oh’ and ‘oops.’”
Native Wisconsinite, current Minnesotan. Heard and used but never thought of it as OPE. It was more a shortened form of whoops or oops.
“Whoops! Sorry, I almost dumped my old fashioned in your lap.”
“Ope! Sorry, I almost dumped my old fashioned in your lap.”
Not a Midwesterner - born and raising in New Jersey and living in Georgia - and never heard of it until recently. I have gotten more involved in the Churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America - which is based in Chicago… and has quite a bit of Midwesterners working there. So I’ve seen the “ope” memes, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say it.
I’ve used it, but it’s more like oop. Like a shortened oops or whoops.
Chicago suburbs, we call it Chicagoland. Like a freaking amusement park or something.
I don’t consider myself a Midwesterner (grew up in the South, now I live in California), but my parents are from Wisconsin and I have a ton of relatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota. So I have spent a lot of time in that region, and I am sure I have heard people there use it.
I also used to listen to A Prairie Home Companion regularly; I’m sure they said it on that show, too, if that counts. Of course I’m sure they used it precisely because it’s such a stereotypical Minnesotan expression.
I answered that I was aware of it, but didn’t use it, but after reading the thread, I now realize I use it constantly. It’s one of those “punctuation words” I use, like ending a sentence in “so”. My written communication would never include it, but it is definitely an unconscious verbal tic.
Grandma (and Mom) were originally from Ohio before moving to the west… Maybe that’s why?
Born and raised in California, but my parents spent a lot of time in Wisconsin and Ohio, and I visited my grandparents pretty frequently in Ohio.
I thought it was my own personal idiosyncrasy for the longest time. I almost run into someone while turning a corner in a hall, and blurt out “ope” or “oop” as I try to pivot out of the way. I assumed it was just some shortened version of whoops that I somehow always corrupt in the moment. But later I found that it’s a common term, so I must have picked it up from my Midwestern relatives.
