Once a Michigan native, always a Michigan native
My 11-year-old daughter and I decided to do a roadtrip and are in a hotel in Astoria, Oregon, a picturesque little town at the northwestern tip of Oregon where the gargantuan Columbia River pours into the Pacfiic. If you saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop, this is the town that movie was filmed in.
It's 9:30am, and I've just gotten back from the local Starbucks (PRAISE JESUS, THERE'S A STARBUCKS) with a big-ass venti drip. Coffee's my only addiction, but for the safety of yourself and your family, stay out of my way when I haven't had my coffee. That whole fumbling-around-in-your-purse thing, trying to figure out how to use the debit card reader ("do I use my fingernail or this pencil on the pad?"), and asking the barrista to wash your fruit for you in their sink thing puts you immediately into "harm's way". Clear and present danger, is all I'm sayin'.
Outside the window is a breakwater, a pier and a marina. The water is calm, no waves, and the occasional gull squawks as it flies by. If I just look out the window, it reminds me of a Grand Haven Sunday. But the similarities end there... we're being serenaded, as we have been all night, by a huge herd of sea lions.
Saugatuck, Caseville, Traverse, Charlevoix...wherever you hang out or used to hang out when you were a kid...now add a loud, echoing chorus of "OORT! OORT! OORT! OORT!" to that picture.
They are SO LOUD that their barking and bellows (hugely comical to both of us) are echoing off the steep, pine-covered bluffs behind us as well as off the boats in the marina.
Last night, I got us a pizza from the local restaurant. Had to smile as I talked to the woman behind the counter. Out here, people in the more northern climates (Seattle, Portland, etc.) share some of the phrases we use in Michigan...just without the hard, nasal "aaaeehh" sound we make. I was asking directions, and inadvertantly said, "where's it at?" After she told me, I thanked her, to which she replied "you betcha".
As we were driving down here, my daughter and I were talking about something, and I said, "yeah, they stold it." She's caught me on this several times now, always with the "Daaaaaaad! It's NOT 'STOLD'!"
Funny how my Michigan speech patterns keep returning, no matter where I end up living in this country.
Got any funny Michigan things people rag you about?
posted by Weave @ 09:30
10 comments
10 Comments:
Oh, please don't start spreading "Where's it at?" across the country. It's bad enough having to hear it all the time since I moved to Michigan, I don't want other people to be subjected to it. What's the point of adding "at" anyway? It's so redundant. Once you've said "Where is it?" you've said everything that needs to be said.
Where's it at is aperfectly natural thing to say. Since I moved to Indiana (originally from Michigan), I hear 'Where's she at?' all the time! Hoosiers DO know something!
Well, aside from "pahp" and the flat A's, I haven't gotten too much flak when I go oudda Stah'
Why not just say "Where is she?" Why add words when you don't need to?
Eric - you have to make a t-shirt with the "talk to the hand" logo - I'll buy fifty if you do - Did you whip that little logo up all by yourself you little ad exec you. . . I miss Northern Michigan so much (Petoskey). Raised in flint and Petoskey (flint is lowercased for the cess pool it is) I now live in the South. Love your site. How bout more pics of the beautiful MI...?
Many years ago I left the great state of MICHIGAN for an out-of-state college and eventually landed in Texas. Although I've lived in some nice places I can't describe how great it feels to cross the Indiana line into MICHIGAN...and to hear those words, "pop" and "where is it at?"
And only a native understands what it means when a fellow native asks if you're a troll!
Dorothy said it best, "there's no place like home...there's no place like home....!!"
SA,TX
Yeah I'm so proud to talk like a hick I'm so glad I found this site with other people who are proud to talk like hicks!
I'm always getting made fun of for my accent. I live in Memphis now, and stick out like a sore thumb once I open my mouth. When I ask for pop at a restaurnat, I promise you they have no idea what I am talking about. Down here everything is a "coke". Sprite, Pepsi, it doesn't matter, it's all coke...yeah, and I'm weird.
Sa Ya To Da UP, Eh?
I was directed to this site from an article and enjoyed reading about the "Michigan accent". As a native of Pittsburgh, PA. I was amazed by the similarities to "Pittsburghese". I have read that Pittsburghese is largely a "river" dialect that worked it's way up the Mississippi from New Orleans. The Dixie Highway roots of the Michigan accent seem to have traveled a similar route, but by land.
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