As parents raising our children in Minnesota, we hear the funniest ‘baby talk’ when we walk into a room full of babies and toddlers. I am Minnesota born and raised, and I have the “you-betcha” and “hotdish” talk as part of my daily conversations. I never realized that I speak to my son using common Minnesota phrases until he started talking and said them back to me!
Here are the Minnesotan baby phrases I’m sure we have all heard:
Nooooo-Noooo
Our Minnesota “o” sounds cuter on a little toddler running around than us grown-ups. It is so funny how our little ones catch on to the sounds of a long “o” and use it in their speech. Recently, much to my chagrin, my son started saying “no.” You betcha he has that long Minnesota “o” in there!
Ishy
Ishy. A word that is used if something is yucky, disgusting, or gross. Example sentence: Jude, don’t stick those green beans up your nose! That’s ishy!
Pop
No, my son is not drinking pop, but he does overhear this word and repeats it. Pop will always be that word that makes anyone from any other state stare at you confused. We are just training our children up right! What’s soda anyways?
Hi-ya
Minnesota Nice. This is something that is taught to our children the moment they are born. There are countless grocery shopping trips where my son and other babies we see in the store are loudly saying hi to everyone and everything they see. The humorous part is that they learned that from us! It is impossible to walk by someone in the grocery aisle or hallway or sidewalk without a “Hi” and a half smile. My son started saying “Hi-Ya” even before the basic “hi” – Minnesota nice for ya.
Oh-Ooh
This seems like every baby’s favorite word. When they drop something or do something they shouldn’t do, “uh-oh” is the word that the parents say to help their children understand that what they did was wrong. Minnesota babies have a more defined way of saying it, “Oh-Ooh.” Two long o’s strung together. It does not get more Minnesotan than that!
I am so in love with my little Minnesooota baby, accent and all. What are some other Minnesotan baby or toddler phrases you have heard?
