Do You Know Minnesota’s Second Most Popular Term?

I’m from North Carolina. The south is full of terms and jargon that mainly only people from the south understand. Terms like “ya’ll” everyone knows. I’ve even heard Minnesotans using “ya’ll” and I can’t help but smile.  

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Do you know the term “you’uns” (pronounced “u-uns”)? It means the same as “ya’ll”, just said different.  I could go on and on, but I’ll move forward with my point. 

When my wife and I moved to Minnesota, we had some catching up to do with some of the terms that are native here. “Uff-da” was one we heard early on, and we thought it was quite funny sounding, that was until we’ve each used it ourselves when we weren’t making a joke. 

“U-Betcha!” was one that we actually discovered when doing our research about whether or not we wanted to move here, so that one did catch us by surprise. 

But there is one term I hear a lot and I’m not sure that people from Minnesota realize they use it as often as they do. I’m almost convinced that it’s the “un-official” official second most popular term for the state.  

And that term is “Of Course”. 

Similar to “ya’ll” and “you-uns”, “Of Course” is used in the same manner as “U-Betcha!”. I first noticed it because so many of the people here are so nice, and when I would say “Thank You”, I was hearing “Of Course” practically as much as “U-Betcha!”.  

At first, I thought it was something only ladies were saying. It didn’t matter if they were young or older, “Of Course” was thrown my way a lot. But as I started paying closer attention, I heard fellas saying it as well.  

When my wife and I traveled back to North Carolina for the Christmas holiday, we were asked a lot about what life in Minnesota was like. One of the first things we told people about was how nice almost everyone was here. I know, I know, “Minnesota Nice”, but we believe that many of the people here at that way by intent. 

If you’ve never thought about it before, start paying attention and see if you notice “Of Course” as much as I have. Or is that just code for “Minnesota Nice”?