The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River, which got its name from one of two words in Dakota: "mní sóta", which means "clear blue water"or "Mníssota", which means "cloudy water". Dakota people demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mní sóta.[Many places in the state have similar Dakota names, such as Minnehaha Falls ("curling water" or waterfall), Minneiska ("white water"), Minneota ("much water"), Minnetonka ("big water"), Minnetrista ("crooked water"), and Minneapolis, a hybrid word combining Dakota mní ("water") and -polis (Greek for "city").
Hamm’s
beer adopted the slogan “sky-blue waters” for its delightful beer commercials
in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
I was born in Minnesota in 1947, and lived there until 1981, when I was transferred to Wisconsin. We made frequent trips back to the state from both Wisconsin and Illinois (which we moved to in 1986), but the trips largely ceased after 1998, when mom passed.
In
the last 11 years, we have only been back to the state on two occasions, both
of which were funerals that were held in January, the coldest month of the
year.
Minnesota
has two significant drawbacks:
If
is the one of the coldest states in the nation, and the 10,000 lakes within its
borders providing nesting for enough mosquitoes that the mosquito might as well
be called the state bird. (Officially, the state bird is the loon, which helps
to explain Michelle Bachmann, who is definitely loony)
In
spite of that, though, Minnesota generally ranks high on most lists of “most
desirable places to live.”
1)
Minnesota is considered to be one of the best managed states
in the country. Officially, it is number 4 on the list, which you can view at
the link below.
2)
Minnesota is one the best educated states in the country. On
the list posted in the link below, Minnesota is ranked #9.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-educated-states
3)
Minnesota is ranked as one of the healthiest states in the
country. It’s #7 on the list posted below
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/the-10-healthiest-states-in-the-us
4)
Minnesota also has one of the lowest crime rates in the
country. It is the 6th best in the country.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state
5)
Minnesota has one of the lowest rates of teen pregnancy in
the nation. Its official rank is #5.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/teen-pregnancy-rates-by-state
Although English is the most common language spoken in
Minnesota, there are numerous other languages spoken in the state. Among them
are Spanish, Hmong, Danish, Norwegian, Sami, Swedish, and Finnish.
For non-natives, though, the most difficult language is one
called “Minnesotan”. None of the schools in the state teach the language, but
there ARE books that can help you communicate better:
One of
the best-known cities in the state is Lake Wobegon, where all the women
are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.
You won’t find it on a map, but that’s OK. It still makes Minnesota a fun state
to live in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon
https://en.wikipedi
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