23/50 unrelenting hotdish for Minnesota
Posted by CupBeEmpty@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 48 comments
This is our newest unrelenting positivity post.
The state in question is the great state of Minnesota.
To all our foreign friends give a shout ask questions send praise. To our Americans do the same.
Ask questions, share stories, make jokes. Just remember not to be a jerk.
Recall the famous phrase my grandma invented “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything that isn’t redemptively funny.”
Stay tuned for 24/50 after this one.
The states are in random order based on my whim at the moment. My whim this time was thinking about the first time I saw a wolf in the wild.
Dazzling-Climate-318@reddit
This is hard, I really don’t have anything to say about Minnesota.
ScatterTheReeds@reddit
Purple Rain
PacSan300@reddit
Prince delivered the best Super Bowl halftime show I have seen, hands down. Epic in every sense. And he even asked if they could make it rain harder when he performed “Purple Rain”.
ScatterTheReeds@reddit
That’s the consensus - his performance was the best.
Bright_Ices@reddit
And he wrote so many other songs we know and love that were written to be sung by other people.
Bright_Ices@reddit
And he privately donated so, so much of his money to really good causes.
Competitive_Web_6658@reddit
When he played those first few chords of All Along the Watchtower it was almost like a religious experience for me.
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
I always just try to imagine what Prince’s childhood in Minnesota was like. I just can’t really imagine him ass a kid.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Right? Like, on the surface, his whole persona and image is just so un-Minnesota. At least the stereotypes thereof.
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
Especially since most of interaction with Minnesotans is not with city Minnesotans but back country Minnesotans from way up north.
Bright_Ices@reddit
Yeah but Minneapolis is a whole different thing. All the pros of Minnesota without most of the cons.
GiveHerBovril@reddit
Have you seen any of his high school photos? He was always cool. https://www.gq.com/story/princes-high-school-basketball-picture-proves-hes-always-been-cooler-than-you
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
Point blouses
Bright_Ices@reddit
Minneapolis is awesome. It’s been a very, very cool place for a long time now, and we all got to notice it all over again earlier this year.
PokeCaptain@reddit
If I had to live in the Midwest, I would live in Minnesota.
Also some of the best photos I’ve ever taken were taken in Bemidji.
Itsdanaozideshihou@reddit
As a Bemidjian, where at?
I'm just amazed someone even knows we exist.
PokeCaptain@reddit
Had an AmeriCorps assignment at Concordia. Was my favorite assignment for the entire 10-month program.
oswin13@reddit
Headwaters of the Mississippi
Bears that probably won't eat you
The Boundary Waters
The neighbor who shovels all the way to your driveway
Breathtaking state parks
Weather for every preference. Sometimes in one day.
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
I jumped over the Mississippi!
NateInEC@reddit
Minnesota saying....
"Dontcha know" – Added to the end of sentences for affirmation.
"You betcha" – A enthusiastic way to say "yes" or "definitely".
Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit
"That's different" -- I don't like this new-to-me food.
Few-Race-8527@reddit
That’s interesting is the same
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
"He's a bit different" applied to a person is the Upper Midwest equivalent of "bless his heart".
Especially if there's a pause: "He's a bit...different."
NateInEC@reddit
The Juicy Lucy .... a burger stuffed with melted cheese—was invented in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the 1950s.
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
Maybe because I moved to MN for college and didn't grow up here, but I have never understood the appeal of the Juicy Lucy. A cheeseburger is not improved by putting the cheese inside the burger rather than on top of it.
Few-Race-8527@reddit
It is. I don’t know why it is, but I swear they’re better that way
whippersnapper123123@reddit
It’s something you get once and then never again.
misawa_EE@reddit
Honestly had no idea they invented that. Respect.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
If I die while eating one, tell the world I died doing what I love.
Shiny_Mew76@reddit
A truly wild state
jessek@reddit
The Minneapolis sound of the 80s was the funk/rock sound of Prince and The Time but also the alternative rock sound Husker Du and The Replacements. A great era of music.
PacSan300@reddit
When I heard The Time’s “Jungle Love”, I strongly felt, “This sounds like a Prince song”. Learned more about it, and lo and behold, Prince was involved in the song’s creation, and the band had performed for him.
jessek@reddit
Yeah, Vanity 6 and Sheila E also made music I assumed was Prince too before I knew the connections. Kind of like how I thought Badfinger were the Beatles before I learned they were Paul McCartney protégés
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
Rare day I see a Husker Du and Replacements mention. I’m down.
ITrCool@reddit
- Minnesota is a beautiful state with lots of amazing camping and hiking opportunities
- The Mall of America (largest still-active mall in the US, maybe the world????)
- LOOOOOOTS of fresh water lakes. Supposedly 10,000 of them, even if tiny
- I work in IT and have met some really awesome people remotely from MN
- They have the Mayo Clinic there. An amazing place that has done a lot for a family member of mine and I cannot speak highly enough of them
PacSan300@reddit
It all made sense to me when I learned why the LA Lakers were called that: they were originally from Minnesota.
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
It's the 3rd most incongruous NBA team name, behind the Memphis Grizzlies (originally Vancouver) and the winner, the Utah Jazz (originally New Orleans, until they moved to the least funky state in the Union).
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
More than 10,000 lakes. Source: https://www.minnpost.com/fact-briefs/2025/03/does-minnesota-have-more-than-10000-lakes/
Wisconsin claims to have more lakes than MN, but their definition of a lake is much smaller than MN's.
The winner for "state with the most lakes" isn't Minnesota: it's Alaska, and it's not close at all. Alaska has hundreds of thousands of lakes, most of which are unnamed.
CupBeEmpty@reddit (OP)
My cousin is a doc at Mayo and he loves it. Dream job scenario.
anneofgraygardens@reddit
The people of Minnesota are the 2026 MVPs.
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
well, I live here, so I'm going to shout out my home state.
One of the most civic-minded of states. That's no small thing: witness how the entire community united to resist ICE's tyranny.
The Twin Cities are one of the most beautiful urban areas in the US, with lots of attractive parks. Having dozens of lakes helps.
Minnesota is one of the more underrated states in terms of natural scenery, with a lot of diverse landscapes, from the prairies in the southwest, to the driftless area in the southeast, to the rugged Arrowhead in the Northeast. I'm not going to argue it outpaces Alaska or California, but it's much more scenic than some of its Midwest neighbors.
MiddlePop4953@reddit
Also an MN native. The best part about is that even if people don't agree with you, most of them mind their business.
Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit
My girlfriend is a native Minnesotan, so we visit regularly. In the decade we've been together, we've been up there at least a dozen times, so my take is not from a singular experience.
Minnesota is the cleanest state I've ever visited. From the interstates down to rural roads and from large cities to down to small towns, seeing debris and litter is rare.
hawffield@reddit
I went to Minneapolis a few months ago for a conference. I had a really good time there. I love the cold so I was living my best life up there.
gofindyour@reddit
I grew up coming here from Wisconsin every year to visit my grandparents. 10/10 hotdish. Skol💛💜💛💜 also would canoe the boundary waters again anyday!!
Kingsolomanhere@reddit
We spent 2 weeks on Namakan Lake (now a part of Voyageurs National Park). Clean air, pristine wilderness, caught and ate lots of walleye, and the only contact with the outside world was the mail/supply plane once a week. Saw the northern lights for the first time; it's like being in a place before humans existed.
pavelowescobar@reddit
Absolutely beautiful place in the summer time.
emmasdad01@reddit
Very nice people. Heart of the Midwest.