North Dakotans have certain habits and ways about them that when someone not from the state comes through, it can be kind of easy to figure it out even if they don’t say so. Here are some tell-tale signs that you might have an imposter on your hands that isn’t truly from the Peace Garden State even if they say they are:

1. They think it's cold when it's in the 40s.
Jordan Green/Flickr
Pft, 40s? That's shorts weather. REAL cold is when the morning greets you with a sun dog, it's below zero, and it's cold enough that it takes a couple of tries to get your car to start. If someone starts to layer up and mention the chill when we've still got double digits on the thermometer and they aren't negative, they are probably an imposter.
2. They pronounce things like Minot wrong.
J. Stephen Conn/Flickr
For some reason, people automatically like the assume that Minot needs to be pronounced in a French way when you just say it like you see it. As always, we can refer back to "why not Minot?" Anyone who says Min-oh is definitely not from North Dakota.
3. They don't know what lefse or knoephla is.
Jesse Thorstad/Flickr
These two and other Scandinavian or German dishes are widely-known dishes in North Dakota. If they don't know what they are, it's highly unlikely they were born and raised in this state. And they are tragically missing out!
4. They find it weird to see little houses and trucks out on a frozen lake in the winter.
bradrobb/Flickr
If they don't know what ice fishing is and seems shocked that someone would have a huge truck out on the ice, they definitely aren't from the Peace Garden State. Ice fishing is a huge part of living here for many and is a pretty widely accepted thing.

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5. They think cities with populations of 20,000 are "small towns."
Jimmy Emerson/Flickr
Maybe that's true in heavily populated states, but 20,000 residents is a pretty decently sized city in North Dakota. In fact, only the top 8 cities have over that amount, everything else has less. Small towns here are usually towns with populations of 2,000 or even less. It's not uncommon to come across towns with barely even 100 residents, let alone a few thousand.
6. They call it soda instead of pop.
Laura Northrup/Flickr
Nope, it's not soda. Soda is baking soda, pop is the beverage. And if they say coke and don't specifically mean Coca-cola but instead all types of pop, then you know you've got someone coming from pretty far away!
7. Or they call it casserole instead of hotdish.
contusion/Flickr
Casserole? No, it's a hot dish and we all know that here. Tator tot hotdish is definitely one of the most well-known and a staple to any North Dakotan potluck, and we certainly don't call it a tator tot casserole... no way!
8. They seem surprised that work and school go on even during blizzard conditions.
Wes Peck/Flickr
Perhaps in other states, they close down entire cities after a few flakes of snow, but North Dakota tends to go on no matter how many inches accumulate on the ground. Even while Minnesota and South Dakota all call school, North Dakotans know there's a slim chance there will even be an hour delay here.

What other ways can you usually tell if someone in North Dakota isn’t actually from here? They probably also don’t have these weird North Dakotan habits only we can say we have — that’s a pretty good way to tell!

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