Fargo-The Movie-Are your accents really like that LOL? (Crosby, Grenora: transplants, movies)

[parrotheadmomma]

Tan Sierra, Tan Sierra!!!! It's one of my favorite movies, I love the Coen brothers.

Anyhoo, I've always wondered if everyone talks like that in Fargo and surrounding areas? I realize some do but how many really, about 1/2 or not that much?

Just curious, not knocking anyone but I do think it's a little funny sounding, but I probably will sound funny to you too. I sort of have a mix Delaware/Philadelphia/Southern Maryland accent going on, if you can picture that!

[TravisW]

In Fargo itself, there's not much of an accent unless you're talking to transplants from other areas of the state. When I moved to Fargo from the middle of ND, I got a lot of grief for my accent. As far as how accurate the Coen bros were as far as accents, it's kind of hit-and-miss. I hear a lot of Wisconsin in some of the accents in that movie.

[roundball]

The dialect from the small farming towns of NE ND and NW MN sound just like the movie to me. Especially the older people that didn't grow up watching TV 6 hrs. a day.

[DoriKate]

Yup. Roundballs got it right.

[Fargobob]

Yea, you betcha.

[thomjoe]

I was born and raised in Fargo, and people always ask me why I don't have the Fargo accent. I kindly answer them, "I don't know about dat der accent, funny you ask me dat den". Quite honestly, the only people I know who did were from outside Fargo, as Roundballs mentioned. Maybe they were from Teef River?

[Roloff1976]

ha ha... it seems a lot of the "Fargo" accent tends to be along the Canadian border also...I have relatives that live in the NW part of North Dakota...around Grenora, Crosby areas...if you go into a local cafe in those towns, you hear a lot of the "oh yaaaaa" and "you betcha". I think it has to do with the Norwegian ancestory.

[roundball]

The NW part of the state also shows a heavy Scandinavian influence(light green).

[magiccity]

North Dakota is one of the few states where a majority of the people do not have heavy accents. It's one of the favored states for telemarketing due to the lack of heavy accents. Can you imagine a Bostonian as a telemarketer?

[soundforlanguage81]

I have lived in both MN and ND and I have to say that the stereotypes explored in the film "Fargo" are largely dead-on for parts of rural MN and eastern ND. I understand that everyone in the region doesn't speak like that, and I certainly wouldn't take the film as some sort of insult. I should be so lucky as to have grown up in an area where everyone was so nice. Take it from me, if you're not from the region it can all be a bit of a shock. However the film does exaggerate on some things, Lundegaard's wife is a bit over-the-top.

It's funny that folks are offended by the stereotypes in that film. I grew up in southwestern NC and I don't find "Deliverance" offensive. It's only an accent. What if we all spoke like Ben Stein? THAT would suck.