North Dakotans ask: What's in a name?

By Ron Bender

7/2/01

(Recently some North Dakotans have been talking about changing the name of their state from North Dakota to Dakota in the belief that dropping the "North" would improve the state's image. The following column about the proposed name change was written by former Eurekan Ron Bender, EHS Class of 1961, an editor and columnist for the Rapid City Journal. We're reprinting it here with permission.)

The "Odd news" story on Page 1 of Wednesday's Rapid City Journal was just too good: North Dakota promoters think they could change the state's image as a frigid, treeless prairie by dropping the word "North" from the state's name.

Here's the reasoning, according to former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer: "People have such an instant thing about how North Dakota is cold and snowy and flat."

Well, yeah.

The story also said some state officials worried that the plan would subject North Dakota to national ridicule.

Well, yeah.

"It's just too easy to make fun of North Dakota. I can't wait to see what Jay Leno will do with this," said my favorite resident of the Peace Garden State when I called her Thursday night. Paulette Tobin, a South Dakota native and former Journal reporter, now lives with her husband and daughter in Grand Forks, where she is a reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.

"I don't get it," Paulette said. "I don't know why they want to change the name. But some people are really hot on the idea, and they're really pushing it.

"I guess I'm too practical," Paulette said. "I grew up in a practical family of practical farmers. I don't know why anyone would want to waste time on it."

It's been tried before. According to the state's Web site, the 1947 North Dakota Legislature defeated an attempt to change the name to simply "Dakota," and a second try was rejected in 1989.

Now, before I try to jab North Dakota, I must admit that my hometown (and Paulette Tobin's) is the far north-central South Dakota community of Eureka - just 12 miles from the North Dakota border. Paulette and I can tell you a thing or two about the frigid prairie. It doesn't end at the state border.

I used to visit relatives in North Dakota. My senior skip day in high school was a bus trip to Bismarck. Whoopee. My friends and I used to go to dances in border towns to hustle sweet young things. My high school teammates and I played basketball against North Dakota teams.

So why did I join in the fun in the Journal newsroom when we were giggling about the name change story? Paulette said it best: "People from South Dakota live to make fun of North Dakota."

Maybe it's because much of the country pokes fun at South Dakota. We need someplace to be the butt of our jokes. Speaking of which, I searched on the Internet under "North Dakota jokes" - which, it could be said, is redundant - and found several good sites. One was "A Prairie Home Companion's" annual joke show site http://www.uic.edu/~esamett/fun/nodak.htm). Yes, Garrison Keillor has a special category named "North Dakota Jokes."

Here's one: How is a divorce in North Dakota like a hurricane in Florida?

Either way, you lose the trailer.

But the best North Dakota site (http://www.plainsfolk.com/youmust)was one put together by a college professor from Fargo named Tom Isern, who has collected a bunch of "You must be from North Dakota-isms." Here's a sample:

You must be from North Dakota:

--"If you define summer as three months of bad sledding.

--"If you haven't seen your house key in three years.

--"If your Easter bonnet has ear flaps.

--"If you own only three spices - salt, pepper and ketchup.

--"If fast food means hamburger-noodle hot dish.

--"If you don't believe you sound like the actors in the movie 'Fargo.'

--"If your kids' baseball games have ever been snowed out."

There's a lot more. But remember: Most were submitted by North Dakotans, who obviously are not above having fun at their own expense.

Except in the central North Dakota towns of Fessenden and Harvey, where Paulette Tobin was a weekly newspaper editor her first job out of South Dakota State University.

"You remember the joke: You can tell a North Dakota car because there's snow on the bumper," Paulette said in setting up her yarn.

"I lived in Wells County the winters of '77-'78 and '78-'79, which were two really bad winters, even by North Dakota standards.

"It was almost Mother's Day and there was still snow on the bumper of my car. So I took a picture of it and wrote a column about it.

"I got some really nasty phone calls about that column," Paulette said with a rueful laugh. "People were not amused."

(Questions or comments? Contact Ron at 605-394-8403 or e-mail him at ron.bender@rapidcityjournal.com.)