14 Midwestern Sayings That The Rest Of America Can't Understand

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Michele Bachmann putting mustard on a corn dog at the Iowa State Fair.

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The 20 Best Beer Towns In AmericaMidwesterners are the salt of the earth.

We're hard-working, super-nice, and can make a mean Tater Tot hotdish.

And yes, we call soda "pop" and hair ties "hair binders."

Inspired by Business Insider's recent list of Southern sayings the rest of America doesn't understand, here are 14 Midwestern expressions that will inspire you to visit "flyover country."

1. "If I had my druthers…"

"Druthers" is a shortened way of saying "would rather." So "If I had my druthers" essentially means "If I had my way."

Usually when someone says this, they're amping up to tell you how something could have been done better.

2. "Oh, for cute!" or "Oh, for fun!"

Unlike Southerners who like to stretch sentences out, Midwesterners love to shorten theirs. And sometimes, things are just so gosh darn cute or fun that you don't have time to make grammatical sense or even get out a full sentence. That's why after seeing a newborn or a puppy, "Oh for goodness sakes, how cute!" is suddenly condensed into "Oh, for cute!"

3. "For cryin' out loud."

This expression of exasperation is reserved for when a situation or individual is particularly ridiculous or annoying. Instead of taking the Lord's name in vain and shouting "For Christ's sake!", it's much nicer to say "For cryin' out loud."

See also: "Oh, cheese and mice!" instead of "Oh, Jesus Christ!"

4. "That makes as much sense as government cheese."

For several decades starting in the 1960s, the U.S. government provided processed cheese to those on welfare, food stamps, or Social Security. The processed cheese was a mishmash of cheeses and emulsifiers that didn't taste (or smell) all that great.

In short, people really hated it. So saying "That makes as much sense as government cheese" means something is a truly terrible idea.

5. "He's schnookered!"

If you've had one too many beers while out with friends and are excessively intoxicated in public, you're "schnookered."

The term can also mean that you've been conned into doing something under a false pretense. For example, "He was schnookered by all that malarky" means that you were taken in by someone else's bulls**t.

6. "The Frozen Chosen."

The Midwest has a fair number of Lutherans and Presbyterians, two branches of Christianity that have a reputation for being chilly or overly formal to people they don't know.

Combine this with the fact that the Northern Midwest is a frozen tundra during the winter, and the nickname "Frozen Chosen" starts to make a whole lot of sense.

REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson

"The weather sure is cold today." "You betcha!"