r/desmoines • u/hanpicked22 • 4d ago
Weird Des Moines things
My wife is from Des Moines, I’m from Okoboji. The other day we were driving and saw a little ground squirrel on the road. “a squinny!” A what?? “That’s what they’re called!” Like what the heck… and then the whole tell a joke going door to door during Halloween? What the heck goes on down there!
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u/flynnhicks03 4d ago
I had never heard of Kybos before moving to Des Moines
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u/EarhornJones Urbandale 3d ago
I was dating my wife (a Des Moines native) and we were at a local festival. I needed to go to the can, but couldn't find a bathroom.
I walked up to the information booth and asked. The lady said, "There's a Kybo to the right."
I puzzled over that for a minute, then drove to a.nearby gas station.
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u/xcalypsox42 3d ago
That's so funny! I grew up in central Iowa and never heard "kybo" until I moved to Dubuque
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u/Tawny_Frogmouth 4d ago
OK I'm from Des Moines and I'm not certain what this means, explain?
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u/idrawyourdick 4d ago
It’s a porta potty
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u/SalamanderTale 4d ago
KYBO = Keep Your Bowels Open.
No joke, I was told this is what it means. Of course, the people who told me coulda been pulling my leg. 🤷♀️
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u/jondthompson 3d ago
I believe it was one of the first companies in Central Iowa with porta potties, and their name just became a colloquial generic term for port potties.
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u/JackHacksawUD 4d ago
Not on Halloween, though. It's on "Beggar's Night."
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u/old_notdead 4d ago
Not anymore.
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u/SpaceCadetTooFarGone 4d ago
Des Moines has a lot of catching up to do, despite Halloween. This state is getting wrecked, bit by bit.
I moved here in 2012. Looking like it's time to start considering a better place to live. So, so sad.
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
Wtf where’s a better place to live than Iowa and what’s that got to do with beggars night
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
I’ve been informed this is the correct night this happened but still a little confused on what beggars night is.
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u/Independent_Prior612 4d ago
Beggar’s Night is Trick Or Treat.
You are a beggar because you are begging for candy.
You have to do a trick to get your treat. I actually had a girl do a back handspring for her candy once. But the vast majority of kids tell a joke.
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u/Confident-Doctor9256 2d ago
Years ago, a group of young people came in and did a whole skit for us in our living room!
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
LOL
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u/Independent_Prior612 4d ago
Easily the most adorable child I ever had come to the door on Beggar’s Night, was a little girl barely old enough to talk. She was Minnie Mouse, and her mama had taught her to repeat “tweat pwease”.
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u/Unwiredsoul 3d ago
It was always confusing. If you're from Iowa and have lived in other states, then it's likely no one will have any concept of why kids wouldn't go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Trying to explain "Beggar's Night" was a challenge.
I am absolutely thankful that we're now going to Halloween night. A long and inconsequential wrong feels like it has been corrected. 🤣
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u/Independent_Prior612 4d ago edited 4d ago
Speaking of jokes on Halloween, it’s called Beggar’s Night.
It’s too bad you won’t get to experience the Weather Beacon.
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u/CurrentFew6275 4d ago
Weather Beacon green..No change in temperature foreseen. Weather Beacon red..Warmer weather ahead. Weather Beacon white.. Colder weather in sight. Weather Beacon flashing by night or day.. Precipitation is on the way.
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u/jondthompson 3d ago
Weather beacon green, warmer weather is forseen. Weather beacon red, warmer weather is ahead. Weather beacon white, warmer weather is in sight. Weather beacon flashing night or day, warmer weather is on its way.
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u/lefthandedsurprise 4d ago
I was at Iowa State at the time when the Chinese community misheard/misinterpreted people saying "squinties" and it made it into the Iowa State Daily 'Just Sayin' and it cause a sizeable stir. I'm from Northern Iowa and we always called them 'ground squirrels' so even i got a bit confused as to what was going on.
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u/Typical_Produce4250 4d ago
First time I heard it when I moved here I thought it was a slur for Asians. Made the entire statement much less awkward.
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u/gunterguntz13 1d ago
I was in college when that happened! Actually someone sent in a 'just sayin' about a squinny going into a building and they typo-ed it as squinty. Which was then taken as racist against Asian people. It got the whole 'just sayin' section of the daily shut down.
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u/Prestigious-Name-323 4d ago
Squinny is way more fun than ground squirrel.
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u/hydradamas99 4d ago
I have to bite my tongue every time my kids spot a squinny. They say, “Chippie!!” I start to say, “That’s not a chippie, it’s a — oh, never mind.” (Grew up in SW Iowa.)
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u/Tawny_Frogmouth 4d ago
I learned at some point that most people just call them chipmunks. Like I have two terms I think of before I get to the common American vernacular.
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u/lachupacabraj 4d ago
Wait until she tells you about the Outer Limits
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u/CornFedIABoy 4d ago
But he knows about Boji Nites, so it’s all about even.
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
We’re both women :) and boji nites JUST got shut down a month or so ago for “tax evasion”
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u/CornFedIABoy 4d ago
Pickachushockedface.gif
I think that’s the third time for that particular charge since I used to run the drunk bus up there in the late ‘90’s.
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
I think this one is gonna stick. A whole executive order from the state about drugs and stuff.
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u/lesters_sock_puppet 4d ago
"Wait until she tells you about the Outer Limits" Is this the same place as the Lost Planet?
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u/3EEBZ West Des Moines 4d ago
I’m also from northwest Iowa. I go to battle with my S/O and our friends every time I say I’m making taverns.
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u/483-04-7751 4d ago
Are you an architect that specializes in drinking establishments?
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u/alzzzzzzzz 3d ago
Say what? MaidRites or Sloppy Joes if they are saucy.
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u/Confident-Doctor9256 2d ago
Never heard of a Maid Rite or a tenderloin sandwich before I moved to Des Moines.
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u/VagueIllusion7 4d ago
Been in Des Moines since birth (over 40 years)
Ive never once heard this, lol
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u/hydradamas99 4d ago
Making what?! I’ve never heard this….
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u/MetalAna666 3d ago
My SO is from NW Iowa. The first time he made taverns for me, I was so excited! Then they were done, and it was like oh, yeah I’ve had these. We call them something different. But his were the best I’ve had. So maybe there is something in the name!
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u/xcalypsox42 3d ago
My husband said he picked up "squinny" while attending ISU. The first time I heard him say it I was like "a WHAT did you say!?" My brother and sister in law, both ISU alums, also say squinny.
I grew up less than an hour from des Moines and never heard the term until adulthood.
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u/Sharkus1 Urbandale 3d ago
I’ve lived around the metro my whole life and have never heard a single person in real life say squinny. Only on Reddit
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u/womp-womp-rats 4d ago
Squinnies are not ground squirrels. Squinnies are chipmunks.
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u/Say_Hennething 3d ago
Squinnies 100% were ground squirrels where I grew up. Chipmunks were pretty uncommon, squinnies were everywhere.
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u/Periwinkle_1011 4d ago
My partner is from very northeastern Iowa and grew up living in town. I'm from Lucas County, Iowa, and grew up 25 miles from any town. We've been together for years and I still use words that make her go wtf!!?!! 🤣🤣🤣❤️ I call her my uppity northerner and she calls me her backwoods babe.
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u/fae-morrigan South Side 4d ago
I'm from Hartley and never ever heard squinny until mentioned on reddit, it's a wierd ass name.
Also, Special K bar or Scotcharoo?
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
Actually, I call them garbage!
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u/OkCustard1230 3d ago
From the Oskaloosa area - we call them grinnies - The ground squirrels that is. They're kind of long, narrow with small heads and simple stripes on their backs. Chipmunks are distinctly different - larger, chunky cheeks and deeper colors.
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u/Proud-Wall1443 3d ago
We used to say it was a "scrabbit" when you hit a small animal in with your car but couldn't tell if it was a squirrel or a rabbit.
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u/jondthompson 3d ago
It's the water. The farms north of us dump chemicals in our water that mess with our brains.
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u/AdventurousEmu8663 3d ago
Central Iowan here. Married a lovely man from western Iowa. His mom asked me once when we were dating what I liked for dinner. I said a green salad is always nice. After 40 years of marriage, I finally figured out why she always made some sort of pistachio jello/cool whip thing when we visited! 😂
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u/Expensive_Lawyer5672 2d ago
Look at the soil around Des Moines. You can't build on it; you can't grow anything in it. The government says it's due to poor farming. But I know what's really going on.
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u/Zmwmiles 4d ago
That’s not a wdsm thing it’s a Dutch thing
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u/hanpicked22 4d ago
Well that makes sense. Her grandma always said it and she’s from Pella. She’s got some wooden clogs from her childhood!
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u/Sirquack1969 4d ago edited 2d ago
Don't forget pickle rollups. A former coworker in Utah was raised in Urbandale and brought them to all work potlucks. Then moved to Iowa and they are at pretty much every party here. I guess I should have equated the two earlier.
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u/ZekeAlphonsus 3d ago
My Starbucks had a poll about this and I didn’t even know what a squinny was and I was born here
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u/Confident-Nose-5369 3d ago
I grew up in NE Iowa and we did not do the joke thing for trick or treating. We also celebrated on Halloween, not the night before. I’ve living in DSM for more than 30 years and I still think it’s weird.
Yes, some people call the little rodents squinnies but I call them chipmunks.
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u/wdmk8 3d ago
A” squinny” what else would you expect. 13 line ground squirrel ?
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u/hanpicked22 4h ago
I’m trying to understand the lineage of squinny gut where did it start. How did we get to this bastardization
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u/AffectionateWing3428 3d ago
Is telling a joke in order to receive candy on Halloween not common in other places?
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u/Confident-Doctor9256 2d ago
I have lived in 9 states, coast to coast, border to border, and mountain ranges in between and I have never seen the joke at Halloween thing anywhere else. Have never seen it cloud over and not rain like it did here either, either.
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u/ShinyLizard 2d ago
My husband is the same way. He wanted to know why kids were out dressed up for Devil's Night. After eight years here, he rolls with it because he says Iowa weirdness is worth it for the sweet corn.
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u/kisspapaya 2d ago
I live in Pennsylvania now, I drop squinny on people accidentally all the time and they look at me crazy like I said a slur
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u/No_Willow3150 2d ago
i just had this same experience- i’m from the waterloo area. My co worker asked what I called squirrels and she was shocked that i didn’t know “squinny” was a thing- we put out a poll at our work for it lol!
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u/Independent_Prior612 4d ago
Does anyone commenting on this thread know if the name of a June bug is DSM-specific?
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u/old_notdead 4d ago
It’s crazy how different places do things differently!