Talk:Minnesota nice

message: Funny article. Being Swedish I see the Swedish heritage you guys have... 
--Fred-Chess 13:29, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Comments

message: Is this page one of those April 1st jokes/hoaxes that someone forgot to delete?? I worked in a call center and for a week was assigned Minnesota. Now, we're talking BEFORE cellphones so before caller ID even existed! I worked a business office. I would call and politely inquire: "Hello, may I speak with Roger, please?" and it was HORRIFIC how rude, time and again, EVERY SINGLE person was. The tone was angry, demeanor rude, inflections like you were bothering them. Yelling angrily, exasperation sighs, the works and by EVERYONE OF THEM!  
"YA!" silence leaving me hanging, no "please hold on", no "May I please inquire who's calling?" NOTHING.  Minneasota almost had me quit my job in tears. Sometimes, they yelled at my ear  "MOOOOOOOM! It's for you!" Sometimes it was downright hostile asking me who I was. Rude, rude, RUDE people. 
I ran this by other workers at break, and EVERYONE HATED MINNESOTA!!!! My health deteriorated that week when I worked it, and again it popped up on my call list. I NEVER EVER got a week of Texas but randomly got a few folks in Texas: the most polite people ever in the entire nation. EVERYONE was praying to get Texas. So WTF is this joke of a page for?? Minnesotans are the rudes F ks ever in the entire US of A, period! NO ONE out of your miserable state thinks you're "nice". Not by a hundred thousand miles! And I would NEVER step foot in your godforsaken state! §HateMinnesota   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.53.45.179 (talk) 00:39, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Is this page a joke? Minnesotans are the rudest F'ks EVER!

message: I am from Minnesota and I believe in some aspects of Minnesota nice. However, this article throws around a lot of claims without references-- for example that drivers are more aggresive than elsewhere. This may or may not be true, but is strong enough to deserve a reference. dfrankow 00:18, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Apparently some people really hate Minnesota. I trimmed down the article heavily. Ashibaka tock 16:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

text: I've just created a Wiktionary article on "Minnesota nice" and loaded it with context-providing quotations from reliable, published works, in part to address the above concern. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 10:03, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Needs references

message: Would anyone like to explain why Iowa stubborn is in the See Also section.  It has nothing to do with Minnesota Nice and I assume it was put their due to some rivalry between the states.  --Ndstate 06:30, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: To tell you the truth, I'd say that there is a relationship. Looking at the current page for Iowa Stubborn, a song from the Music Man, it's describing an attitude very much like Minnesota Nice. And, of course, the Music Man is only set about thirty miles from Minnesota. 69.95.233.209 (talk) 02:08, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Iowa Stubborn?

message: The phrase, as defined here, suggests that its significance is based as much on character as behavior.  
The phrase is generally used by outsiders to define the irony of Minnesota culture (being a culture that is at least deceptively hospitable, and often overtly passive agressive).  However, many Minnesotans have ignored the accusatory nature of this phrase and essentially hijacked it.  
The problem with this definition, of course, is that it is written from the the much smaller, less relevant, far more biased Minnesota point-of-view that the phrase is bestowed upon both our culture's behavior and  character.  Unfortunately, that's not what the phrase means (outside of the very small self-congratulating group of Minnesotans that hikacked the phrase).
The 1996 Motion Picture "Fargo" was the most popular depiction of the ironic humor of "Minnesota Nice" in all of popular culture.  (Anyone care to point to something more widely-consumed?)  And while you may not like this film, and may think it portrayed "Minnesota Nice" in the most negative ways possible (depicting very friendly Minnesotans that would actually rather kill you than be friends with you), it did more to spread the understanding of what "Minnesota Nice" is outside of Minnesota than any piece of media has to date.  
It is odd, therefore, to have an enry for "Minnesota Nice" that doesn't in some way mention "Fargo" or at least the more common, accusatory definition that suggests Minnesota culture is very shallow in its friendliness.   This would fully contradict the very favorable (and biased) definition offered here. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 63.231.224.72 (talk) 21:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: geez that wasn't very nice, eh?Gabenowicki 20:14, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

text: The claim that Minnesota Nice was originally meant perjoratively is asserted, but this article lacks evidence. When and where was this term first used? --RLent (talk) 19:39, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: This is Only Half of the Definition (or less)

message: I think ill stick to sunshine, warm weather and beaches thank you very much!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.121.247.116 (talk) 06:11, August 27, 2007 (UTC) 
I'll second that as a Minnesota expat. After moving to San Francisco a few years back, I'm done with the half-hearted, characterlessness that I found back in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'd take the honesty of the folks out here any day. Hell, the fellow young people out here are so inviting. Family and friends: There's practically no partitioning at all. Can MN nice really compare? --69.12.157.148 (talk) 07:45, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: california

message: The term passive-aggressive gets thrown around a lot by people who really don't understand what it means, but just taking a look at the passive-aggressive article, you can see that the term really doesn't apply. Every culture asks people not to be arrogant. What constitutes arrogance varies from culture to culture. Some people get very irate that what isn't arrogant elsewhere is arrogant in Minnesota, and of course vice-versa. That says more about the inflexibility of the person who is asking an entire state to bend to suit them. If "Minnesota Nice" was really so malfunctional, then Minnesota could not function at all.--RLent (talk) 19:39, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Not passive-passive aggressive

message: Minnesota nice is the stereotypical behavior of long time Minnesota residents, and perhaps Wisconsin residents While the phenomenon doesn't stop at the border, this gives the impression that the sterotype crosses the border. People would be unlikely to describe Wisconsinites as "Minnesota Nice", even if they are. I think it is worthwhile to mention that these traits don't stop at the border, but we should do it in a way which doesn't suggest that the sterotype crosses the border. And if we're going to mention Wisconsin, shouldn't we also mention the other neighboring states?--RLent (talk) 13:05, 30 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Wisconsin?

message: As a Scandinavian reader, I recognise this stereotype as one that could be applied to Scandinavian culture as well: non-confrontational behaviour, understating ones own acheivements and abilities, reservedness, and so on.
Given Minnesota's tradition of Scandinavian immigration, would it be correct and appropriate to mention this connection?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.10.51.14 (talk) 08:29, 4 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Scandinavian? 

message: The lengthy reference to Syl Jones is very odd. The source is a half-page tongue-in-cheek comment of his on Minnesota Public Radio. It basically consists of his unsourced opinions. I don't see why they are more legitimate on wikipedia than any random person's unsourced opinions, and the whole bit should probably be removed.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.32.110.51 (talk) 08:37, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Syl Jones 

message: "The positive traits of civic mindedness and social tolerance are also generally applicable to neighboring Canadians."
I personally think that the negative features also apply to Canadians. Anyone else seen this?176.182.174.250 (talk) 09:44, 3 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: What about Canada?

message: It's happened often enough now that there's a style of commentary pointing out nasty behavior by Minnesotans and especially progressives from the state to illustrate that Minnesota Nice is something of a sham. I'm setting the talk section in the hopes of people giving enough examples to justify inclusion in the article. TMLutas (talk) 19:15, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  So much for Minnesota Nice