The New Tot in Town

Here in the land of 15,000 (at least) lakes, we have a number of news stations. Most of my friends or folks I talk to tend to watch Kare-11. There's others, but none that are as happy. And you know, to Minnesota Nice, there is nothing so important as being able to find a happy place in the middle of whatever else is going on. Gas prices too high? Murder at Block E ("E" for execute, perhaps) getting you down? War in Iraq too much to listen to? Well, at least there are the smiling faces of Mike and Julie to soften the blow and Bobby and Belinda to tell us how to make our roses grow.

Now, I know I sound sarcastic, but I don't mean to. I can't help it, really; sarcasm is like breathing for me; sometimes it's fast and shallow and others deep and belabored, but it's always there. I digress. In spite of sounding sarcastic, the truth is I prefer it. If I didn't, I would watch a different channel. But I like Kare-11. And I like their new weekend meteorologist, Sven Sundgaard.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day when she mentioned Sven. Or tried to, anyway. Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: Have you seen the new weekend weather guy? (She doesn't attempt a word like "meteorologist". The woman has at least a cursory understanding of her limits)

Blond Girl: Yeah. I like him. He's young, but personable.

Mom: Yeah, he's young. What's his name? Seven? Sween? Sw....????

BG: Mom, his name is Sven.

Mom: Yeah, that's right. Sween. No, Seven... ????

BG: Mom, it's Sven, can't you pronounce that? (Insert amazed tone here - how many Sven and Ollie jokes has my father told over the years?)

Mom: Nope, it's too hard.

BG: Really? Mom, you're a native Minnesotan! You're half Scandinavian. "Sven" should be a no brainer to say - like "tater tot hotdish"!

Now, whenever I watch the weekend news on Kare-11, I'll be tempted to say, "Oh, there's that nice new weatherman, Tater Tot!"



Here's some comments from this post:
Geekwif said...
Holy cow! The guy looks like he's about 16! I guess you really meant it when you said "tot".

Shannin said...
I don't think he's allowed to do the 10:00 news - it's after curfew!!
I remember when he was introduced and Don and I, native Californians and all, had to make fun of Sven Sungaard... Hey, back home we had Fritz Coleman and Dallas Raines...

HolyMama! said...
ok, i don't know how to pronounce sven either.

Anonymous said...
I live in an apartment complex in West Minneapolis and was riding the elevator when one day is see Sven hop on. Wow, he is a pretty short guy... 5'3" maybe.

Moncrief Speaks said...
I sort of love your blog.
And you know Sven has his own blog, right?
http://www.kare11.com/cs/blogs/sven_sundgaard/default.aspx