Here's a little taste of the accent in "Fargo". Youbectha. Yeah.
For the record, people here don't really talk like that.
I always assumed we talked exactly like newscasters (i.e., accentless) until I moved to New Orleans and people pointed out that I have an unusual way of pronouncing O's. Like, Minnesooohhhta instead of Minneseeuuta, which is the way West and East Coast residents would pronounce it, in my experience.
In farming areas or even some of the more working-class Minneapolis neighborhoods, the accent is vaguely similar to the one in
Fargo but definitely not that extreme.
And Northeastern Minnesota, a mining as opposed to farming area, was settled by Serbs and Croatians, so the accent is a little different there. Marge Gunderson, Frances McDormand's character in
Fargo, is from Brainerd, MN, which is closer to the Northeastern part, so it's even less accurate. But of course the Coens must know all this.
The most accurate part of
Fargo is the kinds of things people say. Like when William H. Macy meets his father-in-law in a coffee shop and realizes his whole life is crumbling, then on his way out the hostess asks how everything was and he goes, "Oh, fine, just fine" or something like that. That's very Minnesotan.
Yes, I was talking Celcius. You have to get used to that when you move here! 
No problem! To find out the "real" temperature, you just double the number and add 32.
Also metric, and proper way of writing dates.
I could get used to both, since they're logical ways of doing those things.
OTOH, you'll get sick leave and vacation! Not bad, eh? Health care is a given, I suppose I don't even have to mention it.
I do have sick leave and vacation in one of my jobs, but not the other (one is a staff job, the other is a "self-employed contract job").
My health care premiums, however, are set to go up to something like $470 a month this year, with a $6,500 deductible. And they'd be $626 a month if the governor of Minnesota hadn't approved money for insurance companies to offer a 25 percent rebate for people who don't qualify for tax credits under Obamacare. I think a lot of people in other states are just screwed.
So yes, please keep an eye out for job openings for English-speaking non-native journalists and I'll be ready to start packing!
One of the most classic and loved book series in Sweden is Utvandrarna (The Emmigrants) by Vilhelm Moberg. It's the story of the impoverished Swedes who left for America back in the 1800s. They settled in Minnesota and built their life there.
Vilhelm Moberg did extensive research in America as part of the writing process.
It's been filmed with Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman in the main roles.
And made into a musical by no less than Björn and Benny of ABBA fame.
That's a beloved book here, too. I saw the movie years ago -- in the theater!! I have not seen the musical, though.
Topic: Cellar Scribblings (Read 14128421 times)