Northern WI

AAAAhhhhh, another nice day in God's country, sunny, not too hot, yet any way. Lawn mowed yesterday, whew, stiffer than a dogs hind leg today though, my body that is.
Speaking of Northern WI, listening to country tunes, wife likes them, I like some of them. Any way, listening to some country singers talk, the accents and such. Well, we have some kind of accent being born and raised here. Not sure how to define it, but it is there, some say it is like Canadian or along that line, some say it is like people in the movie "Fargo", but we do have our own way I guess. Up here you hear "eh, aye(long A sound), and of course the pronunciation of words can sometimes be with a little accent persons nationality. Finns, Norwegians, Polish, and all nations represented up here. The Upper Penninsula of Michigan is the same way, their own way of saying things.
Now don't get me wrong, it is not like that all over WI, starting south of here, things are different. I worked in southern WI for a time, a person I worked with swore I was from Fargo ND. I applied for a job in Ill, and they asked me what accent I had, my reply was that I didn't have one, they did, that cracked them up. I got the job by the way, turned it down though, couldn't understand their language, heh, heh.
We also have our own way of expressing things, like, "sunday-go-to-meeting clothes" means getting dressed up. "bodie-o-doe clothes", means going out to the bars for a few. A person with "a smile like a wave on a slop bucket", means a smile that is big and toothless. And we relate some things to natural events like, "that was like using a pay toilet, and only passing gas" means it was a fruitless endeavor heh, heh.
Growing up there were lots of first generation imigrants here, and their families, so you heard lots of accents. You still find lots of different foods here, many are served on special occaisions. I remember railroad workers of Irish and Polish nationalities, hard working men, hard living and sometimes hard drinking. I remember section crews, carrying pints or half pints in back pockets. Drinking at home or stop in a bar was just as much a way of life as eating. I had an uncle who made and repaired furniture, my aunt helped him much of the time. Each day after work he would stop at the same bar, my aunt would sit in the old truck patiently waiting for him for an hour or so. I'm not saying it was bad or good, just that, thats the way things were.
I also remember an old fellow that would sit out in the shade with a quart of beer in a sack next to his chair, he would nip at it and when done would limp down the block to the bar, get another one and go back and sit again. This happened 3 times a day! We never thought twice about it, he did this until he passed on. As kids we would say hi on our way by him, and he was always nice.
One set of grand parents were from Norway, and spoke heavily accented, so did the families. I remember grandma coming to stay at times, she loved "as the world turns" on our tv. She had me carry a kitchen chair to put in front of the tv, get a tv tray for her tea, and watch. If we talked during this show she would say"husht kid" (just as spelled). I don't remember having a conversation with her, you didn't talk around company unless asked to. The only other thing was her asking if you "vanted a cookie".
I had a great uncle that would sing jingle bells like this "yingley bellsa, jingley belsa", so I used to kid my mom, and sing it each christmas in norwegian I would tell her. Its always good for a laugh.
As in most things the accents are dying out, once in a while you can pick out a Finn accent in a young person, but not much. But I still remember people speaking swede, norwegian, polish, finn and many more, to each other. One of my regrets was never learning one or more of their languages.