don’t know about anyone else, but where I come from, we’re called michiganders, not michiganers.

Posted by thom from seattle on 02/07/08 at 05:26 PM ET

Yeah, I was always called a Michigander.
As a bonus, I’m originally from Wyandotte. I’d love to move back someday. Atlanta frustrates me.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 02/07/08 at 05:42 PM ET

I think Michiganders is the semi-official name, but I’ve heard both - plus “Michiganians” from time to time.

Those state names based on Native American words can be tricky, I guess.

(I wonder if Toronto should be worried about the game on Saturday?)

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/08/08 at 07:11 AM ET

Those state names based on Native American words can be tricky, I guess.

Tell me about it, Baroque.  People over here in soft-Euros land can’t even pronounce that right.  How come these yahoos can pronounce “Chicago” properly, with the soft Ch, and in the next sentence say “Michigan” with a hard one, like it’s Mitch’s state or something?  Even when I tell ‘em I’m from Michigan (with the proper pronunciation, they turn around and say “Oh, Michigan” with the WRONG pronunciation?!?  I just told them how to say it!

Man.  Europeans.  I can’t relate to them at all.  I think I won’t ever attend another Wings game at the Joe because of that.

Anyway, yes, it’s predominantly Michiganders, but I’ve heard Michiganians and others very occasionally, usually out of the mouths of drunken hicks with fourth-grade educations.  A long time ago, I heard an editorial on Michigan Radio (WUOM) about abolishing “Michigander.” The woman asked, “What would you call women from Michigan?  Michigeese?” She was proposing to change it “Mitteneers,” not least because it reflected the shape of the state and conjured images of swashbuckling pirates.  But I was dating a a smokin’ hot Yooper gal at the time and she felt excluded by the term, so I never did use it regularly.  I’d like to if I thought people would get it.  But they won’t.

Crazy Europeans.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from across the Mishigami big water on 02/08/08 at 08:42 AM ET

One of my grandmothers was from Iowa.  She had the worst time pronouncing the name of the Titabawassee River - she would always call it the “Titawabassee,” but I think that’s because she was born in Missourah. 

If “Mitteneers” gained prominence, I’d start calling myself a Minnesotan.

Mittens have nothing to do with swashbuckling pirates.

Mittens are cute little things you put on kids because they don’t need to wear gloves to handle a steering wheel.

Mittens is a good name for a cute little calico cat.

Mittens would also be a good name for a scruffy little terrier (or as I like to call the annoying, poorly-behaved ones, ankle-biters).

And yes, Mittens has nothing to do with the entire upper part of the state, where Michigan keeps its strategic stockpile of snowy roads, tracts of forests, and citizens who could pass for southern Canadians.

Figures that a woman would come up with a cute nickname. She would probably be the type to have a tiny dog named Mittens, too.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/08/08 at 09:10 AM ET

You really have a thing against mittens, don’t you?  Personally, I hate yappy little canines-- give me a big Newfie like Dan Cleary any day-- but I don’t mind mittens.  In any case, we shouldn’t neglect the feelings of our Yooper kinfolk, so I don’t think “Mitteneers” will catch on.

The woman’s reasoning was that “Mitteneers” sounds somewhat like “Buccaneers.” Personally, I think it sounds more like “Mouseketeers,” and I share nothing in common with Britney & Justin aside from tendencies toward alcoholism and latent mental illness.

But I AM bringing Sexy back.  I was keeping it in my shed.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the rocking chair, knitting nice fingerless gloves on 02/08/08 at 09:51 AM ET

You really have a thing against mittens, don’t you?

Yes, yes I do.  I DESPISE not having dexterity.

And I love big dogs - goldens, labs, huskies, Rotties, anything that has an actual bark and not a yip.  That’s a real dog.  Bonus points if it could possibly weigh more than I do.

But I AM bringing Sexy back.  I was keeping it in my shed.

Glad to see you cleared that up.  Under lock and key, I hope? 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/08/08 at 10:05 AM ET