Is Wisconsin Weird?

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Some people in Wisconsin are a bit weird...or at least they were in the Sixties.

In 1967, the town of Winneconne, Wisconsin, announced it was seceeding from the United States. It also said a state of war existed between the town and America.

Apparently, the town had been excluded from the newest U.S. maps of the area.

The town recinded both announcements the following day.

By the way, River lives in Wisconsin

[KiraPiper (imported)]

I used to spend a lot of time in Wisconsin. It's a very pretty state with a lot of nice people, cheese curds, and a lot of cows. And what else is there to do during the harsh winters besides secede from the United States declare war...

[transward (imported)]

Some people in Wisconsin are a bit weird...or at least they were in the Sixties.

In 1967, the town of Winneconne, Wisconsin, announced it was seceeding from the United States. It also said a state of war existed between the town and America.

Apparently, the town had been excluded from the newest U.S. maps of the area.

The town recinded both announcements the following day.

By the way, River lives in Wisconsin

Was the date, by any chance, April 1?

Transward

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Was the date, by any chance, April 1?

Transward

Actually, it was July 21st

[Riverwind (imported)]

And rightly so too,

River

[Danya (imported)]

With the exceptions of the area near Riverwind, Madison and Milwaukee, I have felt weird being in Wisconsin. On my numerous drives between Chicago and Minneapolis, I've had trouble finding a radio station talk show that is not far, far-right leaning or plays anthing other than country music.

The drive between the cities is, for the most part, fairly scenic. I know I'm nearing Illinois, and therefore approaching Chicago when the average traffic speed increases markedly. I know when I'm getting near Minnesota when the countryside becomes less hilly and more rolling.

I've been told, although I've never heard this, that many Wisconsinites(?) refer to Illinois residents as FIBs, for F***ing Illinois Bastards. Makes me think they have Chicagoans in mind.

[Riverwind (imported)]

True, we are a little community just a little to far east to be in Minnesota so were in Wisconsin in name only but in reality if we go to town its in Minnesota.

River

[janekane (imported)]

Where I live, in northeastern Wisconsin, people who show up around here from Illinois are "flatlanders"

Flatlanders who vacation in these parts are an essential factor in the local tourism economy; it behooves us to not label them pejoratively.

Meanwhile, any state which was able to elect both Joseph (Tail Gunner Joe) McCarthy and Gaylord Nelson (founder of Earth Day) to the U.S. Senate, and was able to elect both Gaylord Nelson and Scott Walker as Governor, has to be somewhere in the weird realm, yet I would guess that, overall, Wisconsin is not particularly more nor less weird than is anywhere else.

[C&TL2745 (imported)]

....

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many Wisconsinites(?) refer to Illinois residents as FIBs, for F***ing Illinois Bastards. Makes me think they have Chicagoans in mind.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

But seriously, there's a similar infantile squabble between any two adjoining states. My brother tells me that Iowans crack jokes about Missouri. A friend in Colorado has told me jokes about Nebraska. And every state seems to have jokes about California. Minnesota is the only state I know where they make jokes about their own state. ("The state bird is the mosquito." "What do we do in the summer? If it comes on a weekend, we go on a picnic.")

Here we have much to be proud of. Like a former governor who's a convicted felon. Who else has that? All Wisconsin has is the beer capital of the world, after all. (Well, okay, some pretty good cheese, too.)

Sandi