South Dakota slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.
This page collects regional vocabulary from South Dakota: slang you'll hear in conversation, sayings that travel through families, and pronunciations that mark a person as a local. Pick a city to narrow the list, or keep "All cities" to see the full South Dakota picture.
20 words
Minnesota affirmative: 'absolutely, you can count on it.'
Upper Midwest sentence-tag: 'you know.'
North Dakota name for Richardson's ground squirrel.
Dakotas diner staple: open-faced roast beef on bread with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Sweet-and-spicy reddish-orange Nebraska salad dressing
South Dakota shorthand for the part east of the Missouri River.
South Dakota shorthand for the part west of the Missouri River.
South Dakota jewelry associated with the Black Hills.
The official nickname of South Dakota.
South Dakota slang is the set of dialect words, regional sayings, and local pronunciations used in South Dakota but not in standard American English. This page lists them with meanings, examples, and the type of each word.
Words and phrases associated with South Dakota include hotdish, uffda, come with, you betcha. Open any entry above to see its meaning, type, and where in South Dakota it is used.
"hotdish" is listed on Dialectly as a regional word connected to South Dakota. Each word page shows the full set of states and cities where it is recorded, plus a map.
Like every region, South Dakota keeps vocabulary and pronunciations that mark a speaker as local. Standard American English levels these out; a regional dictionary like Dialectly records them before they fade.
