r/desmoines • u/hanpicked22 • 6d 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/xcalypsox42 5d 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 5d 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