CoolerCrew.com - A Digger's Glossary

You Dig?

A Digger's Glossary

The St. Paul Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt has inspired people to dig endlessly into snow and ice in the heart of a Minnesota winter for more than 50 years. This rare breed of human being has designed its own language in order to communicate with like-minded souls. It is here that we attempt to decipher this strange lingo for the first time ever.

"You Dig?"	question asked of strangers in the field to ascertain that they are Cooler Crew friendly; something of a Cooler Crew slogan.
Camo Crue	a group of experienced medallion hunters that dress in camouflage hunting gear, hunt like a wolfpack, and guard their clue-decoding secrets warily
Cooler Crew	the name of this Web site, the moniker for supporters of this Web site, regular readers and writers of the CoolerCrew message board, and/or participants in activities put on by the Cooler Crew, particularly the Predig-Gig and Rehash Bash, which bookend the medallion hunt
Coolerhead	a CoolerCrew regular, which is all it takes to be a member of the Cooler Crew
digger	a medallion hunter (in snowy years, the medallion tends to be buried in the snow)
frog pond	an obvious reference point in Como Park near the Conservatory; used in context to mean lost, way off, confused, as in: "Yeah, right, I'll see you in the frog pond!"
Joe	as in: "Hey, I got a Joe."; short for "Joe Medallion," a troublesome Water Cooler Message Board poster that would type several one- or two-character messages in a row to reach a numbered message like 3,000 or 4,500
locusts	the sound of hundreds of shovels digging together at night
LOL	"Laugh Out Loud;" more of a chat/newsgroup acronym, but used frequently in CoolerCrew Message Boards
lurk	what one does when they're hesitant to post in messages to the Water Cooler; lurking, lurker
McGovern's	Patrick McGovern's Pub and Restaurant, a St. Paul institution located at 225 W. 7th Street that serves as the annual gathering place for the Cooler Crew's "Predig-Gig;" a charming establishment for good foods and drinks in one of the city's most historic neighborhoods
MCL	"Much Cooler Love" - similar to SCDs
Medallionis venator	medallion hunters; coined by Kermit Pattison of the Pioneer Press to describe those seen roaming local parks with heavy parkas, shovels and lanterns; members of species either gather in boisterous flocks or hunt alone with a wary eye on potential competitors.
midnight	the witching hour; go to the St. Paul Pioneer Press Building at 345 Cedar Street after about the 6th clue, and you'll see
noodle	an attempt to decipher the clues. Comes from "...using your noodle." noodling, noodled, noodles
Predig Gig	Annual CoolerCrew party celebrating the start of the hunt. It occurs the Saturday evening before the first clue is released usually at McGovern's. A Cooler institution since 1999.
Rehash Bash	Annual CoolerCrew party celebrating the finding of the medallion. Typically occurs the Sunday following the finding of the Medallion at the part in which the Medallion is found. It is a giant potluck picnic, and family event.
SCDs	"Sweet Cooler Dreams;" used as a sign-off on the Pioneer Planet message board
slog	digging through posts on the Water Cooler Message Boards in order to catch up with a conversation (a near impossibility during peak medallion hunting season). Comes from "slog" - as in difficult and slow movement/ambulation through a material such as snow; slogging, slogged, slogs
to and fro	1. a reference to clue 8 from 1998; defined by diggers as wandering aimlessly in search of the medallion, as in, "How's your diggin' goin'?" — "Not bad, but I'm kinda just to and fro, y'know?" — "Sure, you betcha. To and fro." 2. Back in the early days of the Water Cooler, we were allowed our own representative symbols, including animated gifs; a Cooler participant named BeeyoB had a little man that went "to and fro."
weekender	medallion hunter that can't get away from work (usually) and family (sometimes) responsibilities until the weekend

Contributions encouraged

This page was last modified on Jan 2 2007 3:58PM.

This site is dedicated to the St. Paul Pioneer Press Medallion Hunt, a main attraction of the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival that takes place every year in the smaller of the Twin Cities. For more on the Winter Carnival, try the following:

Cooler Crew Medallion Hunt Discussions (This link is for Coolerheads who have already registered at ableminds. The registration link is below

-- If you are not registered on the Discussion board, click here

Winter Carnival HQ

Treasure Hunt Headquarters

Treasure Hunter's Guide

Kings Commons

Camo Crue

For a complete list of treasure hunting resources, visit our links page.

The Here and Beyond

All the clues from all the years are now available. They're not currently as perfectly explained as they ought to be, but we're getting there. As time permits, the clue descriptions will be cleaned up and anecdotes will be added to make you laugh and clap. The individual hunt pages through the 1970s are dynamically generated by the web server, and may contain links to the more recent hunts, whose content differs from the static pages; At the moment, we're working on getting all of the supplemental information into the same dynamic page engine as the clues are. As we do, more of the site will be converted to the dynamic pages you currently see, and links may be temporarily broken as a result. If you ever find anything that offends you, don't hesitate to write and complain. No malice or poor taste is ever intended in these family-friendly pages.

One of the more recent representative images of the hunt from the Pioneer Press. For a look at Winter Carnival button designs from past years, see Ron Young's excellent St. Paul Winter Carnival button collection or another keep-it-simple button index reminiscent of the earliest days of the Web.