Da Minnesota quiz

[Sodak]

Okay, the next installment of (insert your place of interest here) quizzes - Minnesota! For those not in the know, Minnesota is a state in the north central US, bordering Canada and Lake Superior. If you know that, you might be able to answer these obscure questions...

Many place names in Minnesota begin with "minne":
Minnesota
Minneapolis
Minnetrista
Minnetonka
Minneota
Minnewasta
etc.
1) From what language does this word come, and what does it mean?

2) Appropriate for forums: This canned meat product is produced in southern Minnesota. _ _ _ _ What does the acronym stand for?

3) Minnesota promotes itself as the land of 10,000 lakes. How many lakes are there, really? (at least 2.5 acres)

4) The world's most inland seaport (~1500 miles from the sea) is Minnesota's 4th largest city. What is it?

5) What famous Minnesotan made aviation history in 1927, and what did he do?

6) In the 1980 winter olympics, the US hockey team won a stunning victory of the USSR (miracle on ice), then went on the win the gold medal. How many of the 19 team members were from Minnesota?

7) US Steel, in response to sagging iron values (MN was once leading iron producer in US), "invented" new uses for a previously ignored mineral that is now a multi-million dollar mining industry. What is this mineral?

8) The US and Canada agreed to have their border run along the 49th parallel. A surveying error resulted in this small patch of land being included in Minnesota. (Hint: it is only reachable by boat from the rest of Minnesota.)

9) "Our governor can beat up your governor." Minnesotans made news by electing our current governor, a former pro wrestler, over 2 politicians. Who is he?

10) The capitol, Saint Paul, was originally a saloon town named after its sordid, slovenly owner/boss. (Hint: there is now a locally brewed beer named after him, too.)

11) What is the world renowned medical facility in Rochester, Minnesota? (Hint: the former king Hussein of Jordan died there a year or two ago.)

12) Famous pop musician Prince now lives in his own strange world (Paisley Park) near Shakopee. What is his full name, and in what city did he grow up?

 

[Mikoyan]

1. Minne is memory in the Swedish tongue
2. SPAM!, BTW what is an acronym?
4. Milwaukee?
5. Lindbergh, crossed the atlantic

Shows pretty much what i know...

 

[Sodak]

You got 2 and 5 correct!

An acronym is a word created with the letters of other words, such as RADAR = radio detection and ranging.

SPAM = Sp__ __am

 

[DingBat]

#3: Heh. I remember Manitoba for a while referred to themselves as the land of 100,000 lakes.

#1: I'll take a stab at this and say the root language is Huron or Iroquois. Have no idea what it means.

#8: Isn't this the Lake of the Woods area?

/bruce

 

[Thuloid]

3. I know it's over 20,000
4. Duluth
7. Aluminum?
9. Jesse Ventura
10.Pig's Eye
11.Mayo Clinic

This is a reasonably hard quiz even for people from Minnesota.

 

[Sodak]

DingBat, you're close enough on #8. Across Lake of the Woods is the Northwest Angle, population ~100. Recently (5 years ago or so?) they tried to organize a way to join Canada, but nothing has come of it.

And yeah, Manitoba and Ontario probably have a zillion lakes!

Thuloid is correct on #3, 4, 9, 10, 11. For #3, there are some 21,000 lakes, 14,000 of them larger than 2.5 acres.

1, 6, 7, and 12 remain...

 

[Kilrathi]

1) From what language does this word come, and what does it mean?

"Minnesota" is "land of sky blue water" in one of the local Native American languages. I think "Minne" is water, the language is probably Dakota/Sioux? That makes sense, since Minneapolis is commonly referred to as "City of Lakes" = minne + polis / water + city.

6) In the 1980 winter olympics, the US hockey team won a stunning victory of the USSR (miracle on ice), then went on the win the gold medal. How many of the 19 team members were from Minnesota?

Not a clue, though a fairly large number, I'd think since Herb Brooks had Minnesota connections. 7 or 8?

7) US Steel, in response to sagging iron values (MN was once leading iron producer in US), "invented" new uses for a previously ignored mineral that is now a multi-million dollar mining industry. What is this mineral?

Taconite? That's just iron in a different form, so maybe that's not the answer, but I'm trying to remember my childhood days visiting the Iron Range... gotta love "Ironworld", the iron theme park! (which sprung up a bit after I was a kid; not sure it ever took off)

12) Famous pop musician Prince now lives in his own strange world (Paisley Park) near Shakopee. What is his full name, and in what city did he grow up?

Prince Rogers Nelson (I think his dad was in a band that had "King" in the name; so "King"'s son became "Prince"). Not sure where he grew up -- he was born in Minneapolis. Something says he grew up in Richfield or one of the first-tier 'burbs but maybe it was Minneapolis, too.

 

[Kilrathi]

As for Spam, it's not really an acronym (which you get from taking the first letters of each word -- like, as some people have guessed, Specially Processed Army Meat) but an abbreviation for spiced ham.

Didn't know this one myself, had to look it up. Interesting history of Spam at:

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/01.29.98/dining1-9804.html

Reminds me of the time I was in France, watching some cheesey zombie movie (in English, subtitled in French) -- Day of the Dead or something. These guys were trapped in a mall with zombies all around the outside, and only had what they could find inside the mall to live on and fight the zombies with. In one storeroom they found big crates full of something: one guy asks his buddy, what's that? The guy replies, "spam." The subtitle? "du singe" -- French for "monkey"!

 

[Sodak]

Kilrathi, you got 7 and 12 right. And yes, SPAM is spiced ham. So the French like spiced monkey, everybody is different... Apparently the name was chosen in some sort of contest.

Your #1 is half correct. Minnesota is an Ojibwe (Chippewa) word meaning "land of waters" or "land of lakes." I thought my login location would have given that away. O well. Anyway, "minne" means water, as you say.

In 1980, 13 of the 19 US hockey players were Minnesotans. Two of them played on university hockey teams in other states.

 

[Kilrathi]

Are you sure about #1? Take a look around the web -- I just checked, and all the sources I've seen agree with me, both that it's Dakota rather than Ojibwe and that it means something along the lines of "sky-tinted water" or "sky-blue water" or (according to the MN state website "water that reflects the sky"). Sorta like in the old Hamm's beer commercials from the late 70s/early 80s, with that bear and the jingle "from the land of sky-blue water..."

See:

http://www.namely-yours.com/namesstates2.php#MINNESOTA - (MN)

http://www.50states.com/minnesot.htm

or

http://www.state.mn.us/aam/aamp1-6.html#skyblue

 

[Sodak]

You are correct, the word "minne" is Dakota! I did some more research on Ojibwe language, and it is borrowed from Dakota if used at all. Thanks for the follow up!

I didn't recognize "minne", even tho I grew up in Paha Sapa, where many Dakota now live. Of course, there isn't very much water there, so maybe they just never had reason to say it...