Michigan. . .

big waves by a lighthouse. I'm not sure which one.

"Ahhh, Michigan! Land of big waters. Place where you point to your palm to give directions."

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Our state is unique. We tock unique. Here are some unique words and phrases that Michigan natives like myself use all the time. I did not write all this, so at the end of each word/phrase It'll say who did (if I know who did). Some of these I'll occasionally say, others I use all the time. A few I never use myself (but have heard others). Most of them I do say though.

"The Big Lake": With 11,000 inland lakes, you can't drive in a straight line in Michigan for long without hitting some body of water. So whichever Great Lake you're near becomes "the Big Lake" Lee Paul

"The Bridge": Everywhere except for the towns of Port Huron or Detroit, "The Bridge" refers to The "Mackinaw" Bridge.

"Dethaw": to thaw or de-ice. Confused, table for one? "I gotta go dethaw my snowmobile"... which I guess means to spray it with a garden hose in the winter. Dave Eno.

"Doorwall:" Sliding glass door. This really is a weird one. Who thought this up? Anita Hayes and Dave Eno

"Fudgies": Tourists. Visitors to Michigan's Mackinac Island spend a lot of time in the gourmet fudge shops there, earning the local nickname "fudgies", which has spread to other tourist areas as well.

"Glovebox": US equivalent: glove compartment. Do you suppose that, at one time, people actually kept gloves in it, instead of napkins, Altoids and tire pressure checkers?

"A Good One": a good day. Proper Michigan etiquette is to say "have a good one!" to the checkout clerk when leaving the party store. Caz we're all, ya know, frien'ly and stuff.

"How'zit goin'?" In other parts of the world, the equivalent of "what's up?" or "how are you?"

"Ink Pen": It's not a ballpoint, not just "a pen"...why do we do this? No clue. joe

"LOOKit!" Sometimes, we, uhh, have a tendency to end sentences with a preposition, like.

"Mackinac": this French/Indian word confuses nearly everyone, even natives. If you're talking about the city on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac, it's pronounced "Mackinaww City". If you're talking about the island, it's pronounced "Mackinaw". If you're talking about the Straits, they're pronounced "Straits of Macinack". If you're talking about the Mackinac Bridge, it's "Mackinaw Bridge". If you're talking about the fort on the south side of the straits, it's pronounced "Michillimackinack". Got it? Never mind. I've gotten an overwhelming response from Michiganders and expatriates alike who claim it is NEVER EVER "mackinack".

"Pasty": a meat-filled pastry dish, pronounced passtee, brought to the Upper Peninsula mining country by Welsh and Cornish miners in the 1800's. Most Trolls (see below) and Fudgies erroneously pronounce it paystee, which brings a whole new meaning to being hungry for a pasty. (don't go there). Stacey

"The Plant": any factory (usually automotive).

"The Soo": Refers to the small Upper Peninsula town Sault Sainte Marie that weathermen across the nation love to refer to. Pronounced "soo saint marie".

"The Thumb": the thumb-shaped area of the Lower Peninsula "mitten". another one sent in by Stacey

"Yoopers": People who live in the UP.

"Trolls": people from the Lower Peninsula, who, in the minds of Yoopers, live "under the bridge." (still another from that Stacey)

"Trooper": a Troll that has moved to the UP (troll+yooper). Thanks to Nick Seidl fer that one, eh?

I (Hannah) think I should clear some things up here fer ya. The UP ( pronounced "You Pea") is the Upper Peninsula. Ya don't know what the Upper Peninsula is? It's the land when ya cross the Mackinac (pro: Mackinaw) Bridge. You don't know what the Mackinac Bridge is? I'm sorry, maybe you can research that. Say yah to da UP, eh?

"Up North": common for anywhere in the state north of the middle of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, say around Alma. If yer goin' Up North, it's usually fer a vacation er fer deer huntin'.

"Where at?" or "Wherebouts?": I'm not sure this is unique to Michigan, but when asking for the location of something, we often use the noun "whereabouts" as a question. "I live near Jenison." "Oh, yeah? Wherebouts?

"You guys": No, not "youse guys", and yes, it refers to women as well. Michiganians use it without even thinking. No true native would be caught dead saying "y'all"... that's just not right. (California Accent Pronunciation Guide equivalent: "duuuuuuuudes!")

Now, here are some pronunciations unique to us:

"AK-cidih": Accident. "Got inta'a baad AKcidih' with my rennel cahrr. (in the Texas Accent Pronunciation Guide, this is noted as "got inta a bay-ed wreck in mah rent cawr.")

"aeh Narbor": Ann Arbor. Home of the Michigan Wolverines.

"Ashfault": Asphalt. It almost sounds like we're from Jersey, doesn't it? (this one sent in by Bob)

"Aent": Aunt. When you hear Will Smith talk about his "awntie", doesn't that just sound wrong?

"Bolth": Both.

"Ciddy": City. Which ciddy in Michigin are ya from? Baddle Creek, er AnNarbor?

"Cloze": Clothes. kidza real stickler for fancy cloze.

"CAHL-yum": Column. In some parts of the state, they still say this.

"COMF-terbul": Comfortable. The caabz in those F150's are comfterbul.

"Cahngriss": Congress. Those guyz frum Waashingtin, DC

"Cranz": Crayons. Her aent gaver some crans for her birthday. You SO know we talk like this.

"Deeahd" or "Dayaahd": Dad.

"Deerburn": Dearborn, home of Ford Moder Company. Likely if you work there that you work "at Ford's". Or maybe "K-Mart's".

"Di'TROI'": Detroit. You can always tell a non-native because they'll say "DEEtroit". What a insult, people! Ya soun' like-a buncha hillbillies already. No, use that breath clipping mechanism and cut off the T. Then accent the second syllable and cut off THAT T as well. It's almost like two clipped words slurred together. Welcome to DihTroih! It's not so bad!

Drownded": Drowned. Related: "drownding".

"FI-yerr": Fire. Say it in two full syllables. Perhaps we pronounce it that way because we shop at Meijer. Texas pronunciation: "fahr". Kentucky pronunciation: "fawr".

"FREVer": Forever. Winn'er seems like it's laastin' FREVer this year.

"Frigerraider": Refrigerator. Hey, why waste energy on that first syllable? They know whut yer tockin' about. Maahm sez you left the melk outta the frigerraider again!

"GoverMit": Government. You think you say the n's... but you don't.

Hannah interjects: Sometimes I even say GoverMi.

That is SO true about the n's. One time I was thinkin abou (yes it goes for some words ending with t's too) how I'd spell a word endin with an N and I could not think about HOW in the worl' I could because ya need the N on there no madder if ya pronounce i' or no! Take the word Write. How da ya write it if ya pernounce it righ'?

"Graage": Garage. Ahhh, shuddup an' go parrk yer cahrr in the graage.

"Grrarapids": Grand Rapids, my hometown. It's cold, so slurrr those werds tagetherr! Residents are sometimes known as GraRaptiles. ;)

"GROSHries": Groceries. Wouldjamind goin' to the groshry store?

"Haahkee": Hockey. A Michigan favorite. With an abundance of lakes and cold temperatures, it's understandable that we dig hockey and won the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings... a mighty force to be reckoned with!

"Hunnerd": Hundred. I toldja a hunnerd times, there's alwayz trooperz jus' easta Howell!. Alternate pronunciation: "hundrid".

"I-munna": I'm going to. I-munna head overta K-Mart's an' finda cup holder.

"Kiddycorner": Kitty-corner. Elsewhere in the US: "catty-corner". Local variation of "cater-corner," the actual original English word. "When I was a kid, we lived kiddycorner from the Brznickiwiczskiszaks."

"KI-nuh": Kind of. I dunno, I kinuh like Vernor's.

"LayKEERie": Lake Erie.

"Lie-berry": Library. That extra R just slows you down...

"Maahm": Mom. I was tockin' ta my maahm about goin' ta the maall.

"Melk": Milk. Tell 'em you waana glassa melk.

"Michiganderr": Michigan native.

"Mier": Mirror. Don' lookin the mier... yull breakit.

"Minnuhsoda": Minnesota.

"Muskeeda": Mosquito. The State Bird of Michigan. Other states have tried that "it's our state bird" thing but they don't have 11,000+ lakes either. I've seen them carry away cats . . .

"NAWzeeus": Nauseous. "Went ta Liddle Sleazers an' gah really nawzeeus. Musta been the pepperoni-n-shrooms."

"Night-meer": Nightmare. "I hadda nightmeer I wuz out in the wuds near Grayling, with no ammo.

"Er": Or. Ya know, it wuz like watchin bird er somethin

"Pahp": Pop. "Soda", in other parts of the world. Hey, do they call it a Sodasicle? I think not. "Let's stahp by SevenuhLeven and gedduh pahp."

"Pellow": Pillow.

"Pronounce-eation": Pronunciation. We don' alwayz pronunce it currec'ly.

"Reeelatur": Realtor.

"Ruff": Roof. Yo, Jack, ya lef' yer tools on thuh ruff.

"Samwich": Sandwich. Somethin' ya might have with melk. {I, Hannah, usually say Sanwich}.

"Seckit": Second. Wanna go graab a pahp an' a samwich? Gimme a seckit.

"SOWnuh": Sauna. A Finnish word should be pronounced in the appropriate Finnish accent common to da U.P., eh?

"Sisterr": Sister. Ahh, ya soun' like my sisterr. Draw out that rrrrrrr.

Sump'n": Something. Craig found some kinda animaler sump'n in the baackoviz Chevy

"Tempachur": Temperature.

"Thenks": Thanks. Also: "THENKyou." "Hey, Maatt, thenks fer thuh pahp. Yawanna nuther one?

"Tock": Talk. Say TaLk and ya soun like a Texin!

"Tie-ota": Toyota. Talk

"Tuh": To. It's hardta get inta the habita sayin' teeeoooo.

"U-sta": Used to. My deead u-sta work at th' Tek-Cenner in Warn.

"Vanella": Vanilla. "Didja hear? GM's got a new color for the Z34 body style: vanella."

"WEEK-en": Weekend. "Ya goin' huntin' this weeken?" "No, we're takin' Maahm's Chriscraft out on LayKeerie."

"Wuds": Woods. Be careful in the wuds... it's deer season.

"Yuh": You. How yuh (ya) doin'?

Most of the above word I use. I only found one or two that I don't like Samwich, I usually say Sanwich.

Another one is Sump'n, I usually say Sumthin'.

THE RIGHT WAY TO TOCK IN MISHIGIN IS TO:

tock fast,

slur yer werds together

clip all your hard consonants, like "t".

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Clipping Consonants:

We rarely, if ever, make the "tuh" sound of a T... as we finish a word that ends in a "t", we don't actually say the "t"... instead we just stop all breath with our lungs. For example, "apartment" becomes "aparh' meh'" (Say it really fast, and DON'T SAY THOSE Ts!). There... now you've goddih'!

Telling Time:

"Quarter of three"? "Half past"? What does that mean? You may get a confused look if you say that to someone from Muskegon or Kalamazoo. Every good Michiganian knows that when speaking of time before the hour, you would say the word "to" rather than "of". You would also slur it together and say "ta" instead of "to"... hence, "quarter of three" becomes "quartertathree". You betcha.

Freeways

In California, they tell you to take "The 405"... in Washington DC, you get on "495". But in Michigan, since US, state and interstate highways can have the same number, interstate highways are often said with an "I-" before the number. So to get to Detroit's Metro Airport, you git in yer cahrr an' take "I-teoo-sevenny-five" to "I-ninedy-four". Sometimes called freeways, sometimes expressways, but it's rare you'll hear them called "highways".

Speaking of freeways, if you drive west along I-96 from Detroit to Muskegon, listening to radio stations along the way, you will notice the nasality of the Michigan Accent get distinctly stronger and stronger the entire trip

Company names as possessives

In the early 1900's, the Ford Motor Company's sole factory was known by people all over Michigan as "Ford's Factory", since it was owned by Henry Ford. Like a virus, this wacky mispronunciation spread to any large shrine of industry or commerce.

"Where do you work?" "Oh, I work at Ford's."

So "Meijer" became "Meijers", "Kroger" became "Krogers", Walmart became Walmarts, and inexplicably, "K-Mart" became... "K-Marts"! For the record, folks... there is no family by the name of "K-Mart" that owns that chain.

Pronouncing the Michigan A and selected "cahnsineh's":

A's are somewhere in between a short ă for the rest of the country, and a short ĕ. It's not "ahh" like what the doctor asks you to say... more like "aeh", with an emphasis on the "eh".

G's in verbs are usually silent. Notable exception: "tornado warning".

R's are always hard, and sound like a growl to a lot of people. Just think of a pirate. ARRRrrrr.

T's, when in the middle of a word and not supported by another consonant, are generally pronounced like a D (this is common in the US, but especially so in Michigan). "Little" becomes "liddle", "City" becomes "ciddy". When coupled with an "N", they get dropped like the useless energy-wasting consonants that they are: "cantaloupe" becomes "canalope", and "consonant" becomes "cahnsineh" (DON'T SAY THAT T!).

Okay, so maybe ya didn't think this wuz all that inneresting. But then agen, you migh have liked i'. Now, I will share some pichers of things nah everone has in there staeh. (Are ya glad I don' righ' in the way I tock all the time?)

The Bridge. Have any of my readers ever crossed it? I have maybe 5 times or so. It's really neat!

Tahquamenon falls. . .

I have seen them once when I was a baby (don't remember that) and once when I was 8. They are really pretty. I would love to see them in the winter. . .

Sand dunes along the lake- so fun to run down!

I have never been down the biggest one but my older siblings have.

A sunset on the lake. . .

Ice on the lake. . .

I have seen this before and it is beAUtiFUL!

oops, I didn't let the picture load all the way sorry :O

Fall colors. . .

Anyhow, I jus' did this pos' to sadisfy you as you are waiding fer me ta le' ya in on my secret :) One of my best friend knows already :P