1. Stonehenge
What it means everywhere else: A natural wonder.
What it means in Nebraska: Holy crap, it’s a pile of cars that looks like Stonehenge! Instagram it immediately!
2. Corn
What it means everywhere else: The stuff you eat at summer barbecues.
What it means in Nebraska: Corn fields, corn for every meal, corn hats, Cornhuskers, corn in the back of pickup trucks…
3. Weiner Slinger
What it means everywhere else: Um...let’s not go there.
What it means in Nebraska: No, no, no, you’re saying it wrong. It’s Der Viener Schlinger! A pressurized cannon that shoots out Fairbury Hot Dogs at Husker games. Go Big Red!
4. Buffett
What it means everywhere else: Hawaiian shirts and Margaritaville, or “that one guy” whose name comes up in the news every so often.
What it means in Nebraska: Warren Buffett, Nebraska’s hometown hero and world renowned billionaire, a.k.a. the second richest person in the world. No big deal.
5. Tailgating
What it means everywhere else: The party before the sports event.
What it means in Nebraska: A religion, an art, a science, a way of life.
6. Red Beer
What it means everywhere else: What? Why is your beer red? Don’t drink that!
What it means in Nebraska: Beer with tomato juice and maybe a shot of hot sauce. It’s amazing--don’t knock it ‘til you knock it back.
7. Chimney
What it means everywhere else: How Santa Claus successfully commits breaking and entering in homes across the globe every Christmas.
What it means in Nebraska: Chimney Rock, the Jenga of topography.
8. Oregon Trail
What it means everywhere else: The computer game you played in school until you got sick of your children dying of dysentery.
What it means in Nebraska: The actual Oregon Trail. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s what the game was based on.
9. World Series
What it means everywhere else: The annual MLB Championship series.
What it means in Nebraska: The College World Series, where eight teams battle it out for the title, and Nebraskans tailgate and cheer for their favorite teams and tailgate some more.
10. Combo Platter
What it means everywhere else: A burger and a side of fries.
What it means in Nebraska: A cinnamon roll with a side of chili. You know you wish you’d thought of it first.
11. State Fair
What it means everywhere else: Where you go to ride the ferris wheel and maybe win a giant stuffed animal.
What it means in Nebraska: Where you go for DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING, including anything you can put on a stick and even butter. Yes, butter. #YOLO.
12. Migration
What it means everywhere else: Seeing a few dozen birds travel in packs with the seasonal weather patterns.
What it means in Nebraska: Seeing half a million cranes rest at the Platte River Valley springs during the annual Sandhill Crane migration, making birdwatching something you’re not embarrassed to admit is awesome.
13. Lincoln
What it means everywhere else: The sixteenth president of the United States.
What it means in Nebraska: GO BIG RED!
14. Omaha
What it means everywhere else: The biggest city in the state of Nebraska.
What it means in Nebraska: Peyton Manning’s infamous play call and only the best ice cream on planet earth, squared.
15. Valentine
What it means everywhere else: For men, the worst holiday of the year. For women, the most disappointing holiday of the year.
What it means in Nebraska: Finding true love at Valentine National Wildlife Refuge.
16. Driving
What it means everywhere else: Dealing with commute times and traffic.
What it means in Nebraska: Surviving the infamous Suicide Lane in Omaha which, no joke, switches directions throughout the day. Are you going the right way? Who knows until you’re face to face with a tractor trailer.
17. Sandwich
What it means everywhere else: Noshing on a B.L.T. or a club, the perfect lunch food.
What it means in Nebraska: Noshing on a Runza, the most perfect food in all creation.
18. Pizza
What it means everywhere else: Round dough with a little sauce and some cheese, often used to lure people into coming to boring parties or helping you repaint your living room.
What it means in Nebraska: Like genius mad scientists, Nebraskans took the already perfect pizza and combined it with the also perfect hamburger to create a food that’s almost too much for this world to handle.
19. Steak
What it means everywhere else: A cut of beef.
What it means in Nebraska: The only meat that will ever matter when grown and cooked Omaha style.
20. Tonight Show
What it means everywhere else: The late night talk show that has seen many hosts come and go. And come and go again.
What it means in Nebraska: Forever the turf of the one and only--Johnny Carson.
21. Zoo
What it means everywhere else: The place where you take kids to see a few animals hide behind shrubs and be disgruntled because you just paid $10 for a bottle of water.
What it means in Nebraska: A magical land of adventure in Omaha, called “The world’s BEST zoo” by everyone who goes there.
22. Friendly
What it means everywhere else: Your neighbor saying hi to you when you pass by during your quick trip to the grocery store.
What it means in Nebraska: There’s no such thing as a quick trip to the grocery store because you’re bound to run into a neighbor, relative, friend, heck, even a complete stranger, and chat in the dairy aisle for half an hour.
23. All American
What it means everywhere else: The ideal kind of town with hardworking, warm, and down-to-earth folks that everyone always hears about but never really sees outside of TV sitcoms.
What it means in Nebraska: The kind of town that all Nebraskans live in.
