PHC and Fargo

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 08:40 PM 8/11/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>At 6:25 PM -0500 8/11/02, Tom Kysilko wrote:
>>I.  Since Garrison Keillor has been mentioned, and since we've been treated
>>to a fascinating article in the most recent AS about the influence of media
>>representations on Pittsburghese, I have to wonder if any work of a similar
>>nature is being done on Minnesota speech (ME).  People of my acquaintance
>>here will occasionally ape -- both self-consciously and un-self-consciously
>>-- the representations of ME found in A Prairie Home Companion ("A guy
>>could...", "You betcha"), Howard Mohr's How to Talk Minnesotan ("hotdish"),
>
>The two are related.  Mohr used to do a little segment on PHC back in
>the 1980's, and I know his book through Keillor's references to it
>(and to him) as well as through his guest appearances on the show a
>ways back.  I wonder if the Coen brothers' take on Minnesotan in
>Fargo, as you mention, was influenced by PHC/Mohr, or if they both
>derive from the same stereotype (which, like all stereotypes, is
>partly grounded in reality but exaggerated for effect).  Could be
>worse.
>
>L

You're right--it's really not bad at all.  As a native Minnesotan who grew
up in the small rural town where Howard Mohr has lived for some years now,
I found "Fargo" speech to be reasonably authentic.  I was back to that
town, in SW Minnesota) just a month ago and was struck by the similarities
again; usually I only visit my family but was glad this time to hear the
wider community.  The lack of true nativeness was apparent in the film, of
course, but the hapless auto dealer and the cop really weren't bad.  The
only feature I'd criticize was the fast speech of the auto dealer;
Minnesotans tend to be a bit slower and more laconic.  But then, he was a
bit desperate.

Mohr is well liked in our town, by the way, unlike some newcomer
satirists.  My favorite PHC show is still the one done in a rural Lutheran
church (naturally) five miles from my home, on a Thanksgiving Day maybe 15
years ago.  I taped it but have lost the tape; does anyone know if archives
of PHC go back that far?  (The recent shows are not as good, in my
opinion--way too much raunchiness for Minnesota.)