- The Cities
- Minneapolis and Saint Paul, taken together. Locals rarely call them "the metro" or "MSP" in conversation.
- Bde Maka Ska
- Pronounced beh-DAY mah-KAH-skah. Formerly Lake Calhoun. Renamed in 2018 to its Dakota name. Use the Dakota name; the old name has aged badly.
- NE / Northeast
- Northeast Minneapolis. Pronounced "NORE-east" with a slightly drawn-out vowel. Distinct from "North," which is North Minneapolis (a different neighborhood with very different vibes).
- The U
- The University of Minnesota. Specifically the Twin Cities campus. "I went to the U" means UMN.
- Eat Street
- The stretch of Nicollet Avenue south of downtown Minneapolis, dense with restaurants. Roughly 24th to Lake Street.
- Hot dish
- Casserole. Always casserole. The most-loved version uses tater tots and cream of mushroom.
- Lutefisk
- Cod cured in lye. Eaten almost exclusively at Christmas by Norwegian-Lutheran Minnesotans, often as a kind of cultural endurance test.
- Lefse
- A thin Norwegian potato flatbread, usually rolled with butter and sugar. Less divisive than lutefisk.
- The Mall
- Mall of America in Bloomington. But locals do not actually shop there much. The fact that you have heard of it is the point.
- Up Nort
- Anywhere outside the metro, generally. "We went up nort to the cabin" usually means somewhere on a lake within three hours of the city.
- The Cabin
- A second house on a lake. Owning one is a Minnesota class signifier. Asking "do you have a cabin" is a small social audit.
- Pull tabs
- A paper-tab gambling game played in bars to fund nonprofits, hockey teams, and church basement projects. Legal here, mostly nowhere else.
- Skol
- Norwegian "cheers." Also the chant of the Minnesota Vikings, learned and adopted by the entire city in 2018 with the "Skol Vikings" stadium ritual.
- Jucy / Juicy Lucy
- A burger with cheese melted inside the patty. Invented in South Minneapolis. Two bars on Cedar Avenue both claim to have invented it. Spelling depends on which bar you back. Pick a side.
- Don'tcha know
- Mostly a stereotype now, but you will hear genuine "ya, you betcha" and "oh, for fun" from older Minnesotans. Not affectations on their part.
- Minnesota Nice
- Both real and complicated. Strangers will help you with directions and your car battery. Strangers will also avoid all conflict and never invite you over for dinner.
- The State Fair
- The Minnesota State Fair. Held the twelve days ending Labor Day. The largest state fair in the country by daily attendance. Locals call it just "the fair."
- On a Stick
- A reference to State Fair food. Hundreds of items are served on sticks. The list of new things on sticks each year is published in newspapers.
- The Loop
- Usually the North Loop, the warehouse-conversion neighborhood north of downtown Mpls. Confusingly, "the Loop" alone can also mean the smaller Northeast loop along East Hennepin.
- The Suburbs
- Anything outside the I-494/694 ring. Locals divide them by direction (west metro, north metro, south metro). Edina and Wayzata are wealthy west-metro. Brooklyn Park is north. Bloomington is south.