"Ole and Lena (also Sven and Ole) are central characters in jokes by Scandinavian Americans, particularly in the Upper Midwest region of the U.S., particularly in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota where Scandinavian immigrant traditions are common."Sounds harmless enough, so in an attempt to understand the sense of humor of these people I'll soon be surrounded by, I made it my goal for today to memorize at least 2 Ole and Lena jokes to use as my "opener" if I am surrounded by Minnesotans this weekend and don't know how to relate.
"OLE AND Lena got married. On their honeymoon trip they were nearing Minneapolis when Ole put his hand on Lena's knee. Giggling, Lena said, "Ole, you can go a little further now if you want to -" . . . so Ole drove to Duluth"After finding that gem of a joke I took to google images to see if I could find a picture of either this Lena or Ole. The results were startling and have left me hopeless for my goal of seamlessly blending into the people of Minnesota on my trip.
First of all I'm not Lutheran, which seems to be important:
Again, LUTEFISK?!! I'm screwed.
The more I think about that Ole & Lena joke, the funnier I think it is. It's funny because Duluth is like 2 hours from Minneapolis, and Minnesotans have no sense of time or direction, so "just a little farther" is a hilarious way to put "another 2 hours of driving." Kyle is so Minnesotan it's scary. He uses the phrase "the other day" a lot. "The other day I was walking into my third grade math class..." Yeah. It's like yesterday for him. Get used to it Caitlin. You will soon be surrounded by hardcore Minnesotans!!!! :)
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