The Michigan Accent & Michiganders' Slang Words

Funny article someone kicked my way today. I laughed and laughed, and realized "Damn, I actually pronounce some of this stuff this way..." I lived in FL for 25 years, moved there very young. Talk about some engrained pronunciations!

The Michigan Accent & Michiganders' Slang Words

Groups of people from every US State and, really, every place in the world have a unique accent and have their own slang. People from the great state of Michigan are no different! If you're not from Michigan and have heard our accent, it might seem a little bit odd to you. And, top it all off, we also have our own vocabulary.

Michigan Slang/Colloquialisms

There are some words and phrases we use in Michigan that aren't often used elsewhere around the country. Different areas of Michigan have different terms for tourists and for locals.

The U.P.: I've seldom heard a Michigander say "The Upper Peninsula." It sounds so formal! Perhaps it's only said when teaching people what U.P. means. You say each letter like You + Pea, not like the direction "up."

I made the mistake of calling the U.P the Upper Peninsula when we first moved here. The person I was talking to about it, from one of the towns up there, point blank said "Not from around here, are you?" XD

Party store:
Where a Michigander buys alcohol

Michigan left:
This is a U-turn. The name comes from the road design (common throughout Michigan) to allow for U-turns. The design includes a lane made specifically for U-turns. Interestingly enough, in some states U-turns are illegal. More about the Michigan left.

It took me a while to figure out why they had so many party stores up here. I assumed Michiganders like to host parties as much as they like their fireworks, lol.

FIPs: This is what Michiganders in the southwestern areas of the Mitten (particularly in Berrien County) call people who visit from Illinois. There are a number of FIPs who are actually very nice, but some Michiganders feel they are rude. The term FIP is an acronym for *ahem* "F***ing Illinois People."

FOPs: FIPs from Ohio. This is less commonly used.

ROTFL. Not that different from Florida's "F***ing New Englanders" phrase.

Trolls: This is what Yoopers call those who live in the lower peninsula. This is because they live "under" the bridge.

You know what? Yeah, I like this one. I really do. Too tongue-in-cheek to hate.

Ja-eat? - When I was a teen, my parents hosted a foreign exchange student from Hungary. Before she got here, someone came over to give my mom a sort of linguistics lesson on how to avoid using phrases like "Ja-eat?" so as to not alienate the exchange student. So what the heck does "ja-eat?" mean? It means "Did you eat?"

Guilty as charged, I've said stuff like this all my life, in various questions.

The Michigan Accent

The Michigan accent is a strange breed of something from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario. I've been able to stop using words like "lookit" but I cannot stop myself from using my Midwestern accent. When my sister and I tease my mom when she says "car", she gets miffed and shouts, "Well, how am I supposed to to say it?" This comes out sounding like, "Well, how my spose'ta' sayit'?" (Note that "how am I" in her speech comes out like "how my.")

If the word has a double consonant 't' in it, like "kitten" or "button", there is a glottal stop without the t sound actually being pronounced: kitten = kih'ihn, button = buh'ton or buh'ohn. (Thanks to from Doe·Wah·Jack for pointing this out!)

The letter "t": Leave it to a Michigander to screw up the pronunciation of a consonant! If the letter "t" occurs in the middle of a word, it has a "d" sound. This is so embedded in my speech, that I can't say a word like "city" with a "t" without sounding like I'm trying really hard for that "t" sound. It's "ciddy."

"Ah" as in father has to be drawn out. In Michigan, you don't have a mom. You have a "maahm." And after school, you go to "haahckey" practice. On a slightly related note, Chicago is "Chic-aah-go" not "Chi-caw-go"

'Splains a lot, like why I grew up sounding like a Frankenstein mash between Midwestern & Southern accents. Over time, Midwestern took over with a strong Ontario/Canadian slant for "ou" pronunciations.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I speak just like all the other Yoopers. You got a lot of
snowbirds down there in Florida. They all hang out in towns where they sell pasties and pop. Some haul their snowshoes down to Florida because the Sh** gets kinda deep down there sometimes. They also sell overpriced hearing aids down in Florida.

It is impossible for a Yooper to get off topic in the UP. Subjects in conversations change five times a minute. No use dwelling on things too long, you might get caught by that SAD syndrome.

"round here, instead of "ja-eat", we just say "jeet?"

Growing up my grandparents had this series of books, paperback books, that displayed the difference in how we talked here. I wish i had a copy still...the memories.

A few examples:

Heidi Ya'll - Howdy you all
all - oil
dorter = daughter
yunna = you want to?
bald = boiled
tockinta = talking to


and a few phrases that may or may not make sense to you guys:

a lick and a prayer - half hearted attempt
dryer than a popcorn fart = very dry
clean your plow - give you a beat down
You make my butt want a dip of snuff (suck a lemon) - i am thoroughly disgusted by you

and an older one you don't hear as much as you used to:

pasture coal = cow patties, which could be burned for fuel/warmth/light

I've read similar articles before...and it's certainly true, I/we definitely do pronounce things the way it says...but when I read it, I'm like, idk does everyone not pronounce it that way? lol, it seems like the natural way of saying things...but I guess a lot of it probably is uniquely michigan.

a reply to: TheJourney

We used to tease my grandma when we were kids about the funny way she'd say things. The T thing mentioned in the article, yeah, she sure did that, and mashed other words together in a oddball sayings like "I'm getting to it" was akin to "I"m gittin' ta it." or "Stop picking at me, leave me alone!" was "Stahp pickin' at me, lee-me alone!" (all while laughing her ass off because I'm sure we sounded like we had funny southern accents to her) "Pop" drove everyone nuts, first & foremost, she never dropped saying "pop". It's always been "I'll have a coke" in FL, even if you order Pepsi or Sprite.

Then again, my husband pointed out once in the grocery store down in FL that I have a thick blended accent myself. I was checking things off the grocery list and got to the line for orange juice, told him "We need to get more orange juice." He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me like I had 5 heads and asked "WTF is 'moron juice?!' What the hell are you trying to say?" I guess my Franken-accent made "more orange juice" sound like "moron juice". He still teases me years later about it

Our youngest kid picked up the southern accent very heavily, people up here keep asking where we're from when she talks. It's a cute accent, but the kid's gotta shake it eventually, it makes us stick out like a sore thumb!

Try coming into the school when you are a kid walking six blocks at ten below zero in a blizzard. Your lucky if the words come out at all, yet alone come out different. So everyone experienced this frozen voice box and it caused the language in the U.P to change or you wouldn't understand anyone in the winter.

I can make up an excuse for anything.

originally posted by: TheJourney
I've read similar articles before...and it's certainly true, I/we definitely do pronounce things the way it says...but when I read it, I'm like, idk does everyone not pronounce it that way? lol, it seems like the natural way of saying things...but I guess a lot of it probably is uniquely michigan.

Like, when it talks about how we shorten things...I say it that way, and it sounds natural...and then if I say it like fully and completely if you were really trying to accurately read and annunciate the words, I'm like wtf that sounds really awkward noone actually says it like that right? Lol. Non-Michiganders, do you think the ways it says we shorten things sound weird? Do you not do that?

originally posted by: TheJourney
Non-Michiganders, do you think the ways it says we shorten things sound weird? Do you not do that?

Both of my parents are Michiganders, so despite growing up in FL, the way people talk up here sounds relatively normal to me. My grandma had a somewhat heavier accent compared to my parents in some ways, certain pronunciations and such. I've come across some people here in MI who I've wondered what Minnesotan cabin they escaped from, but it dawned on me they're probably Yoopers

originally posted by: Nyiah
Funny article someone kicked my way today. I laughed and laughed, and realized "Damn, I actually pronounce some of this stuff this way..." I lived in FL for 25 years, moved there very young. Talk about some engrained pronunciations!

The Michigan Accent & Michiganders' Slang Words

Groups of people from every US State and, really, every place in the world have a unique accent and have their own slang. People from the great state of Michigan are no different! If you're not from Michigan and have heard our accent, it might seem a little bit odd to you. And, top it all off, we also have our own vocabulary.

Michigan Slang/Colloquialisms

There are some words and phrases we use in Michigan that aren't often used elsewhere around the country. Different areas of Michigan have different terms for tourists and for locals.

The U.P.: I've seldom heard a Michigander say "The Upper Peninsula." It sounds so formal! Perhaps it's only said when teaching people what U.P. means. You say each letter like You + Pea, not like the direction "up."

I made the mistake of calling the U.P the Upper Peninsula when we first moved here. The person I was talking to about it, from one of the towns up there, point blank said "Not from around here, are you?" XD

Party store:
Where a Michigander buys alcohol

Michigan left:
This is a U-turn. The name comes from the road design (common throughout Michigan) to allow for U-turns. The design includes a lane made specifically for U-turns. Interestingly enough, in some states U-turns are illegal. More about the Michigan left.

It took me a while to figure out why they had so many party stores up here. I assumed Michiganders like to host parties as much as they like their fireworks, lol.

FIPs: This is what Michiganders in the southwestern areas of the Mitten (particularly in Berrien County) call people who visit from Illinois. There are a number of FIPs who are actually very nice, but some Michiganders feel they are rude. The term FIP is an acronym for *ahem* "F***ing Illinois People."

FOPs: FIPs from Ohio. This is less commonly used.

ROTFL. Not that different from Florida's "F***ing New Englanders" phrase.

Trolls: This is what Yoopers call those who live in the lower peninsula. This is because they live "under" the bridge.

You know what? Yeah, I like this one. I really do. Too tongue-in-cheek to hate.

Ja-eat? - When I was a teen, my parents hosted a foreign exchange student from Hungary. Before she got here, someone came over to give my mom a sort of linguistics lesson on how to avoid using phrases like "Ja-eat?" so as to not alienate the exchange student. So what the heck does "ja-eat?" mean? It means "Did you eat?"

Guilty as charged, I've said stuff like this all my life, in various questions.

The Michigan Accent

The Michigan accent is a strange breed of something from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario. I've been able to stop using words like "lookit" but I cannot stop myself from using my Midwestern accent. When my sister and I tease my mom when she says "car", she gets miffed and shouts, "Well, how am I supposed to to say it?" This comes out sounding like, "Well, how my spose'ta' sayit'?" (Note that "how am I" in her speech comes out like "how my.")

If the word has a double consonant 't' in it, like "kitten" or "button", there is a glottal stop without the t sound actually being pronounced: kitten = kih'ihn, button = buh'ton or buh'ohn. (Thanks to from Doe·Wah·Jack for pointing this out!)

The letter "t": Leave it to a Michigander to screw up the pronunciation of a consonant! If the letter "t" occurs in the middle of a word, it has a "d" sound. This is so embedded in my speech, that I can't say a word like "city" with a "t" without sounding like I'm trying really hard for that "t" sound. It's "ciddy."

"Ah" as in father has to be drawn out. In Michigan, you don't have a mom. You have a "maahm." And after school, you go to "haahckey" practice. On a slightly related note, Chicago is "Chic-aah-go" not "Chi-caw-go"

'Splains a lot, like why I grew up sounding like a Frankenstein mash between Midwestern & Southern accents. Over time, Midwestern took over with a strong Ontario/Canadian slant for "ou" pronunciations.

Thanks, I'll have to send this to my family members. Long live the Michiganders! I moved to Florida and they know I'm not from around here.

a reply to: Nyiah

You may want to look up the 'black country accent' as there seems to be a lot of similarities!

a reply to: rickymouse

I can second that, although for me it was about 2 miles (yes, in the snow, and going uphill both times). I myself have a bit of a nasally voice in the winter, because after you get done walking in the cold, nothing wants to work right

The only thing I don't do on the list is refer to pop as "pop", but rather I go by the name. For example, if I want to get a Pepsi, then I'll call it by its name.

-fossilera

While we're on the topic of how Michiganders speak, y'all pronounce some place names weird. I got giggled at for mispronouncing Lake Orion & Gratiot. In my defense, I had no idea it's not the same pronunciation as the constellation, and how was I supposed to know Gratiot isn't supposed to sound like Gray-shyo , but rather Gray, erm, Excrement? (or was my leg being pulled here on this one?)

a reply to: Nyiah

originally posted by: Nyiah
While we're on the topic of how Michiganders speak, y'all pronounce some place names weird. I got giggled at for mispronouncing Lake Orion & Gratiot. In my defense, I had no idea it's not the same pronunciation as the constellation, and how was I supposed to know Gratiot isn't supposed to sound like Gray-shyo , but rather Gray, erm, Excrement? (or was my leg being pulled here on this one?)

No-one is pulling your leg on this one - Here's how my area pronounces some of the cities:
-Gratiot (Gra-Censored out)
-Armada (Arm-aid-a), not as in the Spanish Armada.
-Detroit (The D', Detoilet)
-Birmingham (Birmingscam, as everything is outrageously expensive there).
-Mackinaw/Mackinac (Mackinaw is how most of us pronounce it, but both spellings still work).
-Grand Blanc (Grand-Blank)
-Tecumseh (Te-cum-see), not Te-cum-saw
-Milan (Mi-len), not Mi-lahn

-foss

Oh I got a bunch that the Floridian's down here scratch their heads over:

"Door Wall" = sliding glass door
"Hi-Lo" = forklift
"Power Washer" = pressure washer

Detroit AKA D Town AKA The D
yo!

Thank you so much for sharing this! I am the author and really appreciate it. I'm glad you liked it. Let me know if there are any Michigan-isms I missed!

a reply to: fossilera
A big one:
Charlotte
Pronounced:
Chartucky

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a lick and a prayer - half hearted attempt

Being British, I'm familiar with "a lick and a promise", having the same meaning. As I understand it, the image is of a perfunctory attempt to clean a child ("that will have to do for now"), based on the way cats clean their kittens.