Chicago-area accent - a relative of the Minnesota accent?

[Torie]

Chicago when I was in college most definitely had its own accent, and it did not have the Scandanavian lilt that Wisconsin and Minnesota have. Muon2 himself has some of that accent. It's related though. The north shore Chicago suburbs supposedly are where the standard American accent comes from, but the city itself is far away as it were from that north shore accent.