Minnesota’s great umlaut war is over (also, Minnesota was having an umlaut war)
Today, we bring you urgent and breaking news out of Minnesota, where a battle over umlauts has been well, not raging. What is the more polite version of raging? Occurring? Happening? Gently taking place? Something like that.
Anyway! Minnesota. Umlauts. See, there is a city in Minnesota that had been known asLindstrm or, if you saw the signs greeting you on the way in or out of town in recent years,Lindstrom.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation replaced the signs welcoming peoplea few years back. These signs are generally replaced every decade or so after the U.S. Census takes place, and after the last such survey, new signs were brought toLindstrm.
The state transportation authority relies on federal guidelines that outline what it can put on signs, and these rules say signs must use only standard English characters, saidKevin Gutknecht, spokesman for the Minnesota Departmentof Transportation.
So when we replaced the sign, we didnt put the umlaut in,Gutknecht said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
And that was that for a few years, with little notice since the signs were first put into place in 2012, he says. However, a few days ago, theStar Tribune noted that some people inLindstrmwere politely wondering where the umlauts went .
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What do a couple of spots mean?!
:~)
Being of mixed-mutt heritage I have to confess that sometimes the strong ethnic character of the northern plains is sorta funny. There are soooooo many folks that live up here that take their European ethnicity quite seriously!
yabetcha.
Not sure why the umlaut would be a problem on the sign, the people are obviously proud of their heritage
The Mayor offered to do that himself if the state wouldn't, the state just went ahead and did it before he could get to it. Never mess with the Swedes when it comes to their Umlauts!
I like painting over speed limit signs . 55 mph is easy to change to 65 mph [insert smile here ] .
Oufta, doon't knuw what yur talking 'bout Larry. Ders a regonal accent in Minnesooota?
All I have to say is this:
I guess the sign didn't need umlauts for our regional accent.