13 Foolproof Ways To Spot An Imposter In Wisconsin
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Nicole
Author
We’re pretty friendly Midwestern folk here in Wisconsin, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not occasionally judging you. All friends are welcome here and we’ll greet you with open arms, but we know how to spot whether or not you’re from Wisconsin at more than 1000 feet. Here are some of the foolproof ways we can spot folks who clearly weren’t born and raised here:
Fridays are for a fish fry! That may very well be the first Wisconsin commandment. We'll forgive you for ordering fries instead of potato pancakes, but forgoing fish altogether? And for a salad? That's a punishable offense.
If we ask about your sausage preferences, we're not asking if you're hungry. The Racing Sausages may be switching ownership groups, but everyone has a favorite (It's obviously Chorizo!).
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Not only do we tend to give it in distances, but we also rarely give straightforward instructions - turn right at the water tower, go left at the stop and go light...
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It's an old joke, but there's that adage that if you don't like the weather you should just wait a minute, it'll likely change. We like to say "cooler by the lake," but regardless, from snow totals to high temps, we here in Wisconsin know any day can bring just about any weather outcome.
Speaking of the weather, a Wisconsinite is never not dressed for the weather. We know never to leave the house without dressing options for multiple outcomes. Most of us could dress multiple people from the clothes we accumulate in the back seat of our car over the course of a season.
We just talked about dressing appropriately, but this guy made a deliberate choice here. Any winter day above 40 degrees, when you're shoveling...there are a lot of occasions where we think shorts are appropriate in the winter.
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You're far more likely to find Packer fans in other parts of the country than you are to find folks who cheer for other teams here in Wisconsin. We're pretty rabid about our Packers and we don't have a lot of love for any of the other teams in our division. It's a truth universally accepted that we pretty much dislike all things Minnesota or Illinois-related.
The football hatred is a bit mellower these days because the Packers have been so dominant in the division - there's not a lot of rivalry there. But since their fans tend to come up here in drunken droves (and because they're more insufferable than ever since the World Series win) we really, really don't have much love for Cubs fans.
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Manitowoc. Sheboygan. Racine. Trempealeau. Ashwaubenon. We could go on and on. But anytime there's someone who's thrown by one of our town names, we know they're not a local.
Everyone knows we're a brandy state. One-third of all the brandy Korbel makes comes to Wisconsin. When Badger fans travel, bars in other states run out of brandy because they are totally unprepared for us.
It's hard to imagine someone not knowing about our "Jump Around" tradition at this point, but whenever I see folks heading for the exits as the third quarter winds down I figure they must not be from around these parts.
We love the band and the dancing so much, we've added another period to our football games just for enjoying our band.
Let's face it, we have our kids dancing the polka pretty much as soon as they can walk. The polka is a staple of pretty much every Wisconsin celebration, from weddings to summer festivals. After all, it's the official state dance.
What other ways do you use to spot folks from outside our borders?
Looking for more Wisconsin fun? Check out these ways to tell whether or not someone grew up in Wisconsin?
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