Essential English phrases

Relentless surface politeness that is not the same thing as welcome. Transplants call the flip side 'Minnesota ice' — everyone is kind to you and nobody invites you anywhere for two years.

A Norwegian-derived exclamation for anything from mild dismay to lifting something heavy. Deployed sincerely, not ironically, especially north of the Cities.

The involuntary sound made when squeezing past someone or bumping a trolley. Usually followed by 'just gonna sneak right past ya'. Universal across the Upper Midwest.

Nine and a half miles of enclosed second-floor bridges linking around 80 downtown blocks. From November to March the ground floor empties and downtown runs on level two.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul together. They are separate cities with different governments, different street grids and — importantly for renters — different housing law.

Northeast Minneapolis, said the way the old Polish and Ukrainian parish neighbourhood says it. Now the arts district and the densest concentration of breweries in the state.

A city declaration that triggers a three-phase parking plan over three days. Park on the wrong side on the wrong night and you are ticketed and towed — several hundred dollars, every winter, mostly newcomers.

911 for emergencies; 311 for Minneapolis city services — including whether a snow emergency has been declared and which side you can park on tonight.

A one-pan baked meal — usually meat, a starch, a tinned soup and, in the canonical version, tater tots. Calling it a casserole marks you as from elsewhere.

Minnesota's version of the playground game the rest of the country calls duck duck goose. It is a genuine local shibboleth and people will argue about it.

The lake country a few hours north. From Friday afternoon in summer a large share of the metro drives there, which is why northbound I-35 and I-94 seize up.

The largest of the Chain of Lakes, restored to its Dakota name in 2018 after nearly two centuries as Lake Calhoun. Getting the name right matters locally.