Monday, January 6, 2014

You can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can't....

I woke in the middle of the night to find the duvet and sheets all tangled up, with the COG lying on some of them. I gave a mighty pull and said, "Uff Da."

And immediately thought- 'Did I just say Uff Da? Where did that come from? I never say that.  But if I ever did it was 40 or more years ago.'

And, then, my sleep-sodden brain responded, 'If  Sherlock Holmes or Professor Henry Higgins were not fictional characters, they'd immediately know you were a Minnesota Girl.'

This morning I looked Uff Da up in Wikipedia:

Uff da (sometimes also spelled huffdauff-dauffdauff-dahoofdaufdaufdahooftauf daa, or ufta) is an expression of Norwegian origin adopted byScandinavian-Americans in the 19th century. It is an exclamation that is relatively common in the Upper Midwestern states of the United States.[1]

Uff da is often used in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest as a term for sensory overload. It can be used as an expression of surprise, astonishment, exhaustion, relief and sometimes dismay. For many, Uff da is an all-purpose expression with a variety of nuances, and covering a variety of situations. 

So it turns out that Sherlock and Henry would only know that I was from the Upper Midwest or, possibly, Pacific Northwest. Unless they saw me roll my eyes and say 'fer sher.' Then they'd know - Minnesota all the way.

1 comment:

Kate said...

Ja, sure, you betcha!