Monday, May 5, 2008

My Town Monday: Vocabularly Lesson


Livingston County is part of Michigan. Around here, we call this:

















Pop

We don't drink "Soda" in this state. It's Pop. I have pop in my fridge right now. (It's Diet Pepsi.)

In Michigan, we also have Faygo. It's a Michigan product. And one of Faygo's products is Red Pop.
Because this is Michigan and we call it Pop.

We're also likely to pick up our Pop at a Party Store. Apparently, people in other non-mitten shaped states would go to a Party Store to pick up paper plates, hats, balloons and streamers. Our party stores mainly sell Liquor. And overpriced Pop.

You can return your empty Pop (but not Soda) bottles, along with your empty beer cans at the Party Store to get your deposit back. Carbonated drinks have a 10 cent deposit in Michigan. You pay the extra 10 cents on carbonated drinks, but you get the money back when you return them. Unfortunately this does not apply to water or juice, even if it comes in the SAME bottle as, say, your Pepsi. I hope legistalition will change this, but, well, probably not since they are legislators. The idea behind the deposit was to keep litter down and help recycle. 10 cents is enough to get most people to return their bottles.

Growing up in Michigan, it's not at all uncommon to go hunting for bottles tossed out car windows. It was a few bucks to spend on candy.
Or Better Made Potato Chips.

Another Michigan brand.

Like Vernors. Another kind of Pop. Apparently some folks never drank Vernors. Makes your nose feel all fizzy. I mistook a cup of beer for Vernors when I was young... that was very disappointing.

Around here, you'll find quite a few folks who head "Up North" for vacation, usually to hunt. They may or may not make it across the Mackinac (that's pronounced Mack-i-naw, of course) Bridge to the UP (or Upper Pennisula.)

Or they might travel to the "Big Lake." Yeah, in a state surrounded by Big Huge Lakes, everyone who goes to one of the Great Lakes really does just call it the Big Lake. My family usually went to Lake Huron-- that was our "The Big Lake." And we always brought pop for the trip.

I know the obvious Michigan words, but some of them surprise me. Apparently the rest of you don't say "Doorwall" for a sliding glass door.

We say 'kitty korner' rather than caddy corner. We usually say freeway or expressway (or eway) but not highway. And apparently the rest of you thaw or de-ice while we dethaw.

Around here, you might cry alligator tears if you're losing bad at Euchre while outside there's a toad drownder going on.

Or at least in some regions we do.

But we still drink pop. The only soda we have is baking soda.

Because this is Michigan.

And if any of you guys (not youse guys) know any other words that are uniquely Michigan, please, let me know! As a life long Michigander (do NOT say Michiganian!) I would love to hear what we say that you don't!

10 comments:

r2 said...

In Indiana we say "pop" for soda and "kitty-corner" for caddy-corner, too. We also say "crick" for creek and "pertin' ear" for almost.

Josephine Damian said...

Clair: my mother was from South Carolina and there were all kinds of crazy ass words and phrases that, as a New Yorker, I needed her translate for me.

Funny, these local idioms. Language difference: great approach to a My Town post.

OK. I've got to go dethaw my fridge now. lol

debra said...

Well, Clair, here in NE OH we also have pop. We use kitty-corner mostly, but some will say caddy-corner. We call the side of the highway the berm, how about you?

Travis Erwin said...

Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Or Coca Cola, we call it all coke. And y'all instead of you guys is our preference.

WordVixen said...

Hey, this post really pops! Ok, had to do it.

My mom's from Oklahoma, and while she's learned to say "soda", Grandma always says pop. In fact, it was a long standing argument between me and pa-paw (grandpa) whether it's soda, pop, or soda pop. :)

Vernors! OMG- my dad is crazy over Vernors! It's the one thing dad always insists on bringing home after visiting Grandma (where as mom insists on stopping at every Braum's along the way). The closest thing I've found around here is an organic ginger beer. The flavor isn't the same, but the "sucks the breath out of you" is.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I can't tell you how long it took us to get used to this moving here from Philly. Also purse instead of pocketbook. And sub instead of hoagie.

Clair D. said...

We get a few folks that say "crick" and "pertin'ear"

We also have Djeat? (Did you eat?) And No, Djou? (No, did you)

Terrie Farley Moran said...

So, what's wrong with youse guys?

Terrie

Barrie said...

You play Euchre in Michigan??? I had no idea! I thought only Canadians (I grew up on the game) played it. "Turn down a bower, lose for an hour!"

Fun post!

Debbielou said...

Good old Brits - say "Soft drinks" - How namby pamby is that ?!

Some people do say "Fizzy pop" but most of the time they will call it by its real name ( boring)

We "defrost" our freezers.

We don't say potato chips - we have crisps - Chips are potato fried in oil ( french fries).

We also call cookies - Biscuits !