Little 'Maricin Fark

Rexburg, Idaho, has long been called Little Provo. Due to the presence of BYU-Idaho here (and I just love to refer to BYU-Utah just to watch folks from Happy Valley get their pants in a knot) Rexburg's nickname is, perhaps, well deserved.

But I stumbled across evidence today that a more appropriate nickname might be Little American Fork.

Listen to the in-house ad (hopefully it's still there when you get to the site) for the Rexburg Standard-Journal, a little rag I used to work for. I swear the first woman who speaks says something like, "Oh, Sarah, that mill was wonderful . . ." That mill. THAT MILL. I thought only people in American Fork talked about Rill Mill Dills when they're going to the Dairy Queen, but apparently the accent is migrating north along with all the Utahns who think it's nifty (or are forced) to attend BYU-Utah's sister university in the sticks up north. You be the judge. (And on a journalistic note: If the thing that sets you apart from the competition is your recipe selection, it might be time to look at that corporate mission statement again. Just more evidence, ladies and gentlemen, that I'm happy to be out of the newspaper business.)

But I am hearing things like mill a lot more here. More evidence that Rexburg culture -- such as it is -- is being eroded. Things just started going downhill when McDonalds stopped providing fry sauce.