What phrases do you only hear in the Midwest?
After growing up in Michigan, I'm fluent in Canadian.
"Can I schooch by you, please?" I ask in grocery stores.
"Yeah.... no," is shorthand, a polite stall:
"Yes, I understand, but no."
"Yes, you have a good point, but no, I''m not going with you."
What other Midwestern words and phrases do you know?
6
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Also you betcha
Marcie1974
Level 8
May 26, 2020
2
You could star in a Coen Brother's film.
@LiterateHiker I can’t get through Fargo lol.
Minnesota girl here:
Ope
Oh jeez
I’m just gonna sneak past ya
Uffda
Keep ‘Er moving
Oh yah
Oh fer Pete’s sake
Marcie1974
Level 8
May 26, 2020
2
Love it! I say, "Oh, for Pete's sake!" too.
My mother never swore. The most she said was "Mercy Maude!"
@LiterateHiker I had spent the last 25 years in southern MN and moved 2 hours north to central MN. I had forgotten how thicker the accent is up here!
When I took phone calls from all over the US at my last job, at least several times a month someone would ask where I’m located. I always cringed because I know how minnesoooootan I sound
We Midwesterners talk like ducks:
"WAW-shington."
"AW- portunity."
Quack, quack, quack.
We hammer vowels. In Washington State, "Wa" is soft in "Washington."
I know none except those you just mentioned.
Jolanta
Level 9
May 26, 2020
2
“Yeah....no” gets used a lot
When a child I heard this comment all the time, I lived in the Los Angeles area.
dalefvictor
Level 8
May 26, 2020
1
Grew up in Chicago. We would say, "You wanna come with?" If we were going to the mall or out to eat, anywhere. I've heard that was a more regional way to invite someone to join you.
Also, have a sammich. Yum!
Tinocca
Level 7
May 26, 2020
2
We definitely said skootch. And pop. And if we had root beer floats, we called them black cows.
JGal:
Gym shoes and front room too. 
What’s wrong with you wanna come with?
@Tinocca absolutely to drinking pop
Also we play duck, duck, grey duck
I’m a MN girl
@Marcie1974 I've had people comment that it wasn't finished. "You wanna come with me?"
We knew what it meant.
@Tinocca hmmmm, guess I’ve heard it so much I don’t see how it’s incorrect lol
I know older generations some times say “set” instead of sit. Or “make out” the light instead of turn off. I believe the light one is due to translation from German to English
I live on the west coast now, but I spent my first ten years on a farm in northeastern Nebraska. I remember my dad using a word that was pronounced something like HAHN-yokker. It seemed to mean someone who was a yahoo or a bit of a fool. Anyone else familiar with this one?
alewife336
Level 5
May 26, 2020
2
Never heard that word. Interesting. Was your father Norwegian or Swedish?
No, he had Polish and German ancestry.
Yah why sure - Up North Wisconsin
ColdFax
Level 6
May 26, 2020
2
@GoldFax
Sounds Norwegian.
Arkansas River: Pronounced as "ARK" + "Kansas"
CarlosG903
Level 6
May 26, 2020
1
Never in my life heard it pronounced that way
Had a typo..."ARk" (like Noah's Ark)
Greetings from Michigan!
Let me buy you a pop!
(Everywhere else, I believe, it's called "soda" )
Paul4747
Level 8
May 26, 2020
7
"Soda pop is a non-food, full of chemicals and sugar," I taught my daughter. Never drank it.
I added "soda" to "pop" so Claire would know what I was talking about.
@LiterateHiker Isn't everything full of chemicals? H2O is a chemical compound. We breathe CO2 all day.
Not to say I don't know what you mean, but just calling it "chemicals" isn't very descriptive.
And I think all the preservatives over the years have contributed to my youthful good looks. 
it's "pop" here in Western New York, although many aliases are recognized
I'm not going to research and memorize the chemicals in soda pop.
I never drank soda pop. Nasty stuff that make people fat.
@LiterateHiker I think of myself as "comfortable".
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