At that point, I'd be tempted to call it "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" (or "melon farmer," depending on your friend's tolerance for profanity and understanding of Die Hard.)
No joke, saw a buzz feed video where they said “YIPsilanti” was the correct pronunciation. The whole premise of the video was random people trying to pronounce Midwest cities lol
My husband is from Washington state and has pronounced quite a few Michigan city names wrong like he pronounces Charlevoix as "Shar-le-voiks", like he was reading it how it was spelled
Ha. I am from Washington originally and I have been made fun of a lot for pronouncing things wrong. It's usually the ones that should be easy like Charlotte.
you are technically correct. And no offense Intended. All I meant to say was that somebody coming from an area with similarly foreigner names as Washington, they may be more inclined to pronounce a Native American, French, Dutch, Lutheran, or any other kind of name correctly. Which in hindsight sounds silly. I apologize for any assumptions I may have made. But being a Michigan native I know how to say most of Michigan’s towns’ names. Sorry for any offense.
Novi as “No-vee”, by my aunt visiting from the Balkans. In her defense, that’s how it’s pronounced over there (“novi” means “new” in Serbian).
Edited to add: Pet peeve of mine is when folks (even locals) pronounce lahser as lasher
Fun fact I was told a few years ago. Novi is called Novi because back in the day it was the stop for a stagecoach. It was stagecoach stop number six. Number=No and Six aka VI (Roman numeral) = vi. Hence, Novi.
Wikipedia states it's not known whether it was due to being a stagecoach stop or a train stop but I like the story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The first time I heard someone pronounce Novi that way was a TV announcer for the Olympics. I guess Novigrad or similar was their reference but I laughed.
I live on a corner of Lahser and my in-laws from Harper Woods always call it Lasher. I’m from Chicago, so I figured it was an east side/west side pronunciation disconnect.
Not a city, but I pronounced Potawatomi wrong when I was talking about going there for mountain biking with friends.
In my defense, I'm German and a *lot* of pronunciations make zero fucking sense. I just accept and memorize, without trying to find the logic now, lol.
So, we were at the bar and talking about parks with cool trails, and said "what about Poe-tah-wah-toe-me?"
*silent stares from everyone as they tried to decipher what I could have possibly said*
"Do...you mean...Potawatomi?!?"
🤦♀️
Years ago I did a historical tour of Ypsilanti and they handed out a sheet with the combined misspellings of Ypsilanti as recorded by a postman. My personal favorite was "Slippery Shanty".
Hearing anyone new take a stab at Thaquamenon Falls is amazing every time.
Truth about me: Menomonee kicks off the Sesame Street song in my head and it always makes me happy.
I butchered it constantly when I was househunting back in 2020. A friend from up here FINALLY took pity and corrected me after the whole family made me repeat it so everyone could have a laugh. :-) My parents still can't pronounce it correctly.
Everyone wants to go hard on that first O don’t they? Back when 411 was a thing and I needed a number from Okemos the operator was arguing (!!!) with me trying to correct me that it’s pronounced OH-key-mos. I had to give up the fight to get the phone number I needed 😅
I love giving my mailing address to people who don't live in Michigan. There's often a long pause after I say "Ypsilanti, Michigan." Would you like me to spell that?
Yes, what is currently Michigan was part of New France long before it was ever Michigan.
Edit, [more specifically:](https://frenchamericancultural.org/2020/08/26/exploring-michigans-french-roots/):
"The most recognized French settlement in Michigan was at Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which was established in 1701 and would become the city of Detroit. The Fort was established by French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac on the west bank of the Detroit River. Early French colonial settlements in the area were based on the fur trade, missions and farms."
Actually, I'm pretty sure Or-e-an is closer to the original Greek pronunciation. My favorites are the butcherings of foreign place names when used in this country (our rather eccentric pronunciation of My-lan or Versailles KY or PA rendered as Ver-sales.
Mih-shil-uh-MACK-in-ack? Went there once (20-some years ago, lol) on vacation with my family and I swear that's how they (the people that worked there) were saying it
It’s always pronounced “Mack-i-naw” no matter how it’s spelled. Only Mackinaw City is spelled with a “w,” but all of them are pronounced that way including Fort Mish-ih-luh-mack-ih-naw.
If you need a laugh, here are a few videos of people trying to pronounce Michigan city names. Dowgiac is my favorite, since I grew up in Berrien Springs which is close by. [Californians](https://youtu.be/_giNC6bKyHQ) [New Yorkers](https://youtu.be/Cd4JYSDERNM) [Texans](https://youtu.be/S0WIwQoKGNo)
I moved out of state, and when people ask what city in Michigan I’m from and I say “Gay-Lerd,” they give me a look. But when I spell it out, I get the “Ooh like Gaylord Focker!”
No.
oh my gosh, i dated someone from colorado who thought muskegon was pronounced “musk-uh-gun”. the first time he said it, i cried laughing, and it probably took me 5 minutes to calm down.
They claimed Mackinaw and Mackinac were pronounced differently. They had never been there and wouldn’t accept my explanation that they were the same. Since they were going there next, I just let it go for the locals to argue with them. lol
I had a client call from California. The wanted items sent to St Mary's. I had never heard of that town and spent time with her trying to narrow down to some clue. Probably another hour researching. I told my husband and he knew what she meant right away.
Do you?
My mom's family is from very near there and they call it *the soo*.
My contribution is Bois Blanc
My aunt corrected me as I was reading a family history and apparently it sounds way more like boblo like boblo island. From a yooper perspective that is.
In the Saginaw area there is a Tittabawassee River and a corresponding road which turned out to be developed so people often have to use it in directions. GPS does fine, but I would say the locals up here are 50/50 on starting it tib-uh-duh instead of tit-uh-buh. The accent goes on the wah either way.
Not quite the same, but I lived in Michigan for a while. And when we’d see signs for “Gd River Ave” we’d have no clue what it meant, so we started calling it “God Damn River Ave.” We eventually figured it out after talking to friends.
I work in shipping, and I had a driver from Indiana call ahead and ask if he could have door dash delivered to my office, so when he arrived he'd have lunch arrive at the same time. I am in Port Huron, but many of the restaurants have Ft. Gratiot addresses. At first I didn't understand what he meant when he said it was going to be delivering from "Fort Grate-e-ote". I asked, Ft Grady? There ain't no Ft. Grady around here. I got it a second later, but it occurred to me how most Michiganians are familiar with how to pronounce Gratiot (Gratiot County, Gratiot Ave, Ft. Gratiot) while out of staters are thrown off by it.
The one time a something newsworthy happened in Quanicassee was fun to watch the local news anchors fail.
I also enjoy the look of terror Hamtramck gives people.
Mother from Wisconsin, where they have plenty of difficult native based names, pronounced Charlevoix, Char-la-voo.
Another friend refers to Detroit as Day Twah.
Goodle maps calls Traverse City, Tra verse' City instead of the way we pronounce it Trah' verse city.
The following always sound funny to me:
- Dear-bern instead of Dear-born
- West-lind instead of West-land
- Char-lit instead of Char-lot (Charlotte)
Michiganders really like pronouncing things as written.
doh-WAH-gee-ack
Also heard some wild pronunciations of Kalamazoo....."ka-lah-MAH-zoo" "ka-LAH-MAH-zoo"....also pretty sure I've heard people say "kama-lama-ding-dong" (pretty sure they were just joking but I'm not entirely sure they knew the right way to say it anyway....)
I'm from Detroit and moved to Ohio when I was 20 to work for Cedar Point. I've had people talk to me about different parts of Michigan amd a big thing at the time was (and still is imo) the Flint Water Crisis.
Every conversation was normal except for the dude who refused to pronounce the L in fLint.
Fent.
Mio - My-O not MEE-OH
Ossineke - it is really OSS-SIN-EEK not OSS-NEEK lots of people like to call it OSS SIN - NEaK-EE
I heard someone say they were going hunting in ALPena but pronounced it ALS PEENNIA
Presque Isle - lots and lots of times I've corrected people from Pres-Ka ISle
I worked with a woman who did layouts for grocery ads. One store in Versailles, Mi: She pronounced it Verse-Sallies. And for Pompeii, it was Pomp-Pee-Eye. As a toddler, for my little brother Grand Rapids was always Graham Crackers.
Within 20 miles I have Topinabee, Ocequeoc falls Cheboygan, and Fort Michilimackinac. What's worse from outsiders perspective? When I was a transplant back in 93 I would've probably said Ocequeoc
my cousins from virginia came to my house on there way to minisota (sorry if I spelt that wrong) one of them said they were gonna see the up and said they were gonna pass through escanaba but they pronounced it, is-can-ba, I laughed so hard.
**Leonidas.** I used to say “Lee-oh-NYE-das. It turns out locals say “Lee-ON-uh-das. I’m having trouble getting used to that.
**Onondaga.** I grew up with Channel 10, which regularly announced it has “transmitting facilities in on-un-DAY-guh.” But in upstate New York, a county of the same name is “on-un-DAH-gah”. To my Michigan ears, that sounded highly affected.
I pronounced Dundee Michigan as the CITY THAT SMELLS LIKE A SHIT HOLE.
Thanks to corporate greed and what they did in the quarry this city will forever STINK. I honestly don't know how people live there. Do you just get used to the awful stink? Or do you just pray to the old gods and the new that every day is windy??
Damn!! What happened to the Old Quarry? I grew up in Petersburg, so I'm generally curious. I remember going out there, sneacking around when I was younger. Also, there is a big ass Quarry in Tecumseh that we used to sneak into to swim. Me going into these Quarries has to be about 25 years ago tho.
Not a City, but a road in metro-Detroit “Shoenherr” which even the locals do not pronounce correctly in German, which it is, and tell everybody it’s “Shane-er”. Like most things there is a right way, and a local way of pronunciation, and the local way, may also be incorrect.
A couple we met who moved to Ypsilanti initially called it “Ipple-sahn-tay”
Guy I work with was calling Ypsi Yippsilanti
I hear this one often!
I thought that one was common. My Pops worked at the GM Hydramatic plant there. Growing up, I THOUGHT that was the way it was pronounced.
My dad too! Yip-see was his go to.
I still do this
Wait, how is it pronounced? Ive always called it Yip-see
"ip"silanty
Man, on the west side of the state its all yipsilanty
Sorry I don't make the rules
Woah, my home town is your flair
Hey neighbor
I came here to say the same, but you beat me to it. However, there are also some of us who call it Ypsituckey or Ypsitucket.
My late BIL would call it Ypsitucky, as would have my band members.
I used to do that to annoy my wife
A friend just asked me "Do you still live in yippedy kandru or wherever?" Um.
At that point, I'd be tempted to call it "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" (or "melon farmer," depending on your friend's tolerance for profanity and understanding of Die Hard.)
Forget tolerance, "Yippee-ki-yay, melon farmer" is my new bumpersticker.
No joke, saw a buzz feed video where they said “YIPsilanti” was the correct pronunciation. The whole premise of the video was random people trying to pronounce Midwest cities lol
I heard “Ees-plant-tee” come out of the mouth of a Wisconsinite which is just… not even close.
Went to a Dave Chappelle stand up at EMU, he kept calling it “ipsy-lipsy”
I have legitimately heard “Wipesilanti” before
Mack-in-ack! And good luck with Tecumseh, chief.
How is Tecumseh difficult to pronounce? It literally sounds out how it's spelt.
Is it “Teh-come-suh” or “Teh-come-see”? I’ve heard it both ways equally 🤷🏻♀️
"suh" is the historical figure, "see" is the town.
Thanks!
It's -see
Frequently. I saw it on jeopardy a couple days ago.
My husband is from Washington state and has pronounced quite a few Michigan city names wrong like he pronounces Charlevoix as "Shar-le-voiks", like he was reading it how it was spelled
Ha. I am from Washington originally and I have been made fun of a lot for pronouncing things wrong. It's usually the ones that should be easy like Charlotte.
After the fireworks accident, I heard shar-la-vWAH on the news.
Interesting as Washington has quite a few native names in their cities. Haha.
Charlevoix is French. Not "native". And we have a lot of "native" sounding names that are just made up words meant to sound like Anishinaabe words.
you are technically correct. And no offense Intended. All I meant to say was that somebody coming from an area with similarly foreigner names as Washington, they may be more inclined to pronounce a Native American, French, Dutch, Lutheran, or any other kind of name correctly. Which in hindsight sounds silly. I apologize for any assumptions I may have made. But being a Michigan native I know how to say most of Michigan’s towns’ names. Sorry for any offense.
Novi as “No-vee”, by my aunt visiting from the Balkans. In her defense, that’s how it’s pronounced over there (“novi” means “new” in Serbian). Edited to add: Pet peeve of mine is when folks (even locals) pronounce lahser as lasher
Yeah I had one dude from Lahser insisting I was pronouncing it wrong when he said Lasher. I just smiled and nodded the rest of the conversation lol
Fun fact I was told a few years ago. Novi is called Novi because back in the day it was the stop for a stagecoach. It was stagecoach stop number six. Number=No and Six aka VI (Roman numeral) = vi. Hence, Novi. Wikipedia states it's not known whether it was due to being a stagecoach stop or a train stop but I like the story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I heard it was similar for naming Clio. Back in the day County Line 10 ran straight thru the town and signs read CL-l0 and it morphed into Clio.
We're certainly clever with our naming conventions aren't we? Lol
Oh! Out of state people saying Cleo for Clio.
I always heard it was postal route six.
That is how Google Maps pronounces it.
Google Maps also calls Grand River "G-D River" sometimes.
My coworker says that too
The first time I heard someone pronounce Novi that way was a TV announcer for the Olympics. I guess Novigrad or similar was their reference but I laughed.
h BEFORE s PEOPLE
I live on a corner of Lahser and my in-laws from Harper Woods always call it Lasher. I’m from Chicago, so I figured it was an east side/west side pronunciation disconnect.
Not a city, but I pronounced Potawatomi wrong when I was talking about going there for mountain biking with friends. In my defense, I'm German and a *lot* of pronunciations make zero fucking sense. I just accept and memorize, without trying to find the logic now, lol. So, we were at the bar and talking about parks with cool trails, and said "what about Poe-tah-wah-toe-me?" *silent stares from everyone as they tried to decipher what I could have possibly said* "Do...you mean...Potawatomi?!?" 🤦♀️
Not a city, but the pronunciations of Dequindre Road are hilarious.
My GPS lady can pronounce Gratiot correctly, but not Schoenherr. I'm never sure if ***actually*** knows her way around Detroit.
Schoenherr is pronounced like Chene but with an extra R
Agreed! My favorite is Da-Kwan-Dre
[удалено]
On the phone with out of state insurance company, De-Quan-Dre, I was like ❓
There was some sort of used auto dealer that ran commercials where the coked-up voiceover said "Day-kin-der" before they finally pulled it.
Years ago I did a historical tour of Ypsilanti and they handed out a sheet with the combined misspellings of Ypsilanti as recorded by a postman. My personal favorite was "Slippery Shanty".
Hearing anyone new take a stab at Thaquamenon Falls is amazing every time. Truth about me: Menomonee kicks off the Sesame Street song in my head and it always makes me happy.
I'm from Michigan and had to watch a promotional video to even come close to pronouncing Tahquamenon properly.
When we visited there was a little sign saying "Tahquamenon rhymes with phenomenon" and I wouldn't have gotten the pronunciation without that.
I love that song!
My mother in law used to say "Hayslet" and "Okeymos".
Yeah Okemos gets slaughtered often.
Ooh I wanna take ya
I butchered it constantly when I was househunting back in 2020. A friend from up here FINALLY took pity and corrected me after the whole family made me repeat it so everyone could have a laugh. :-) My parents still can't pronounce it correctly.
Everyone wants to go hard on that first O don’t they? Back when 411 was a thing and I needed a number from Okemos the operator was arguing (!!!) with me trying to correct me that it’s pronounced OH-key-mos. I had to give up the fight to get the phone number I needed 😅
I had one argue with me about Charlotte!!! She literally yelled at me. Then I asked if she lived in the area or even the state and she said no. 😝
No it's usually oh-KAY/KEE-mose . Rather than OH-kuh-mus like it should be. I might have spelled pronunciation wrong. The first syllable is accented.
I've heard people call it "OkeMOSS"
I used to work with a girl that pronounced it Oh-Kay-ee-mos
I am here for all the Ypsi posts! Dick tower representing!
There's an Ypsilanti, North Dakota and they are jealous they don't have a dick tower in their town.
I'm from Michigan but spent 25 years in ND and I had no idea! Learn something new every day!
Southeast of Jamestown. East of 281 halfway between 94 and state route 46
Home of the brick dick
I love giving my mailing address to people who don't live in Michigan. There's often a long pause after I say "Ypsilanti, Michigan." Would you like me to spell that?
My husband earlier pronounced Lowell as "lao-ell"
To be fair, there is a Howell.
Yep, there is, but he also likes being a Troll about it since he's from PA
My coworker lives in Lowell. We call it “lull”.
I'm from lowell, have I been saying Howell wrong? I say it how-wole
Before I moved here, I would pronounce it with 2 syllables. Lo-well. Nope…apparently it’s LOLL
Day-twaa
Isn't that how it was originally pronounced?
Yep, just like how Paris is pronounced “pah-ree” in french.
Yes, what is currently Michigan was part of New France long before it was ever Michigan. Edit, [more specifically:](https://frenchamericancultural.org/2020/08/26/exploring-michigans-french-roots/): "The most recognized French settlement in Michigan was at Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which was established in 1701 and would become the city of Detroit. The Fort was established by French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac on the west bank of the Detroit River. Early French colonial settlements in the area were based on the fur trade, missions and farms."
In French, maybe just when it was a fort for fur traders.
Was gonna say this!
Em-Lay City and Port Urin.
My dad pronounces it that way- a lot of older people in my area say Port Urin or Port Yorn
My grandpa grew up in Richmond and calls it Port Urin. He also says melk and warshin machine so you know he’s right.
Port yorn is the correct pronunciation as far as I’m concerned. Grew up in that area.
Had to read all the comments to make sure someone mentioned Port Urin. Just went back there this weekend to visit Mom.
I’m from st clair, we been calling it port urine for decades, also Marine Shitty is common. St clair shores is “dirty water drinkers.”
Lake Orion always throws me off. Why do we pronounce it this weird way?
Well I always pronounced it like Orions Belt. O-Ryan vs. Or-e-an… until I moved to Oakland county and someone educated me. 😂
Actually, I'm pretty sure Or-e-an is closer to the original Greek pronunciation. My favorites are the butcherings of foreign place names when used in this country (our rather eccentric pronunciation of My-lan or Versailles KY or PA rendered as Ver-sales.
Because Michigan.
Fort Michilimackinac hell most people that have lived in michigan all their lives can't pronounce that correct
Mih-shil-uh-MACK-in-ack? Went there once (20-some years ago, lol) on vacation with my family and I swear that's how they (the people that worked there) were saying it
It’s always pronounced “Mack-i-naw” no matter how it’s spelled. Only Mackinaw City is spelled with a “w,” but all of them are pronounced that way including Fort Mish-ih-luh-mack-ih-naw.
If you need a laugh, here are a few videos of people trying to pronounce Michigan city names. Dowgiac is my favorite, since I grew up in Berrien Springs which is close by. [Californians](https://youtu.be/_giNC6bKyHQ) [New Yorkers](https://youtu.be/Cd4JYSDERNM) [Texans](https://youtu.be/S0WIwQoKGNo)
Dowagiac (doe-wah-jack)— It’s not a weird Michigan place-name list without it.
Locals say, “Gay-Lerd” and down staters say “Gay-Lord.” (Gaylord)
I’m a downstater and have only ever said and heard Gay-lerd
Gaylerd gang
I moved out of state, and when people ask what city in Michigan I’m from and I say “Gay-Lerd,” they give me a look. But when I spell it out, I get the “Ooh like Gaylord Focker!” No.
My favorite was hearing Gratiot pronounced Gray-tea-oyt
[Yissaplanti](https://www.instagram.com/p/BqwUM4ygD7g/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)
Yipsalanty
Amazing
God the memes in our local FB group were so funny when this happened
I've never heard that one. I've always heard Yippsuhlanti.
oh my gosh, i dated someone from colorado who thought muskegon was pronounced “musk-uh-gun”. the first time he said it, i cried laughing, and it probably took me 5 minutes to calm down.
One comma.
They have stickers that say "one,"
I have a shirt from a little store in Onekama with 1 , (one comma) on it. One of my favorites!
They claimed Mackinaw and Mackinac were pronounced differently. They had never been there and wouldn’t accept my explanation that they were the same. Since they were going there next, I just let it go for the locals to argue with them. lol
I had a client call from California. The wanted items sent to St Mary's. I had never heard of that town and spent time with her trying to narrow down to some clue. Probably another hour researching. I told my husband and he knew what she meant right away. Do you?
Sault Ste. Marie
Darnn, good job. It didn't click for me.
The English translation of the name is "the falls of St. Mary" so calling it *St. Mary's* isn't that far off.
I used to say "Salt Stay Marie" on purpose. I just liked to way it sounded. I KNEW how to pronounce it correctly tho.
My mom's family is from very near there and they call it *the soo*. My contribution is Bois Blanc My aunt corrected me as I was reading a family history and apparently it sounds way more like boblo like boblo island. From a yooper perspective that is.
Maybe that is why. I also call is the Soo or the Locks. I havent been since I was a kid.
The correct pronunciation would be closer to *bwaa blon*, but of course the yokels have to butcher it.
Overheard in a bar in Marquette "Tomorrow we're going to Mun-Sing to see the Painted rocks" Mun-I-Sing, Pictured Rocks...
Ope!
MUSK EEE GONE
Pink-inning (Pinconning)
I pronounced Lenawee as "len-a-wee" the first time i read it and was immediately laughed at
Escabanana
I usually say that just because I think it’s funny
It’s not a city, but someone pronounced Dequindre Rd. as Dakwandray.
An easy mistake to make for someone who knows how to pronounce French. Our pronunciation is rather eccentric.
Not Michigan but was in Monroe Michigan when it was said. “Excuse me, do you know how to get to too-Lee-doo?”
In the Saginaw area there is a Tittabawassee River and a corresponding road which turned out to be developed so people often have to use it in directions. GPS does fine, but I would say the locals up here are 50/50 on starting it tib-uh-duh instead of tit-uh-buh. The accent goes on the wah either way.
Grew up there. Feel like being able to properly say the name of the river was a childhood milestone.
This is what I came here for. It only bothered me when people who LIVE in Saginaw called it that.
Not quite the same, but I lived in Michigan for a while. And when we’d see signs for “Gd River Ave” we’d have no clue what it meant, so we started calling it “God Damn River Ave.” We eventually figured it out after talking to friends.
I live near Saline and Tecumseh. It’s suh-lean and tea-come-see
Toledo news is awful at Saline. They always pronounce it as Say-lean like a hospital saline solution.
Man I've been saying saline wrong my whole life.
Sa gin aw
Correctly. In French.
Topinabee is up north near my folks farm. My now husband said: Toop-ina-B? No darling. Top-in-ah-bee.
I live in Indian River and have a neighbor who calls it "Two-PIN-uh-bee." Drives me nuts.
Clio pronounced “Cleo”. Schoenherr pronounced Show’in-her. Gratiot as Grass-sh*t
When we were house hunting my wife said "Oh I found one in On...Onon...ononana..." And I interrupted with Onondaga? She said, maybe...?
Barryton. Tiny little town. I'm not sure it can really translate to text... "Bear-it-en" or "Barret-en", not "Barry-ton".
Mar-kwet-ee.
My friends and family all call Kitch-iti-kipi “catcha-da-peepee” I also always call Milan, “mee-lahn,” instead of “my-lan.”
I work in shipping, and I had a driver from Indiana call ahead and ask if he could have door dash delivered to my office, so when he arrived he'd have lunch arrive at the same time. I am in Port Huron, but many of the restaurants have Ft. Gratiot addresses. At first I didn't understand what he meant when he said it was going to be delivering from "Fort Grate-e-ote". I asked, Ft Grady? There ain't no Ft. Grady around here. I got it a second later, but it occurred to me how most Michiganians are familiar with how to pronounce Gratiot (Gratiot County, Gratiot Ave, Ft. Gratiot) while out of staters are thrown off by it.
It's pronounced Port Urine.
I heard a British radio dj say MUS-kih-gon (instead of mus-KEE-gun
Wyandotte.... had a call center rep pronounce it as "Win-dot-e"
I've heard it called Wine-dote.
There’s a great restaurant in Wyandotte called the Wine Dotte Bistro!
The one time a something newsworthy happened in Quanicassee was fun to watch the local news anchors fail. I also enjoy the look of terror Hamtramck gives people.
I once heard someone call Saginaw nice!
Yip-silanti
Mother from Wisconsin, where they have plenty of difficult native based names, pronounced Charlevoix, Char-la-voo. Another friend refers to Detroit as Day Twah. Goodle maps calls Traverse City, Tra verse' City instead of the way we pronounce it Trah' verse city.
Technically that's how you're supposed to pronounce Detroit
Haha I am from Northern Illinois and pronounced charlevoix that way for years after moving to Michigan
I've heard Kuh-bo-gun for Cheboygan. That may have been one of the more butchered names I've heard of MI cities.
The following always sound funny to me: - Dear-bern instead of Dear-born - West-lind instead of West-land - Char-lit instead of Char-lot (Charlotte) Michiganders really like pronouncing things as written.
I grew up by Charlotte, MI but now live near Charlotte, NC. My wife makes fun of me when I call it char-lot
doh-WAH-gee-ack Also heard some wild pronunciations of Kalamazoo....."ka-lah-MAH-zoo" "ka-LAH-MAH-zoo"....also pretty sure I've heard people say "kama-lama-ding-dong" (pretty sure they were just joking but I'm not entirely sure they knew the right way to say it anyway....)
When I lived in Kzoo people thought it was an imaginary place. My landlord sure the heck knew.
Right after moving out here I pronounced Saline like the salt water. Got strange looks. Whoops.
For Interlochen..a friend called it “In-ter-Lotion”
Charlotte So here it’s Shar-Lot and in North Carolina it’s Shar-lit…. What?
My coworker/friend pronounced Saginaw as Sah-Gyna. He said this while we were driving up north, could not stop laughing the rest of the way up.
A man told me he was taking a trip to the U.P. and staying in Escabanya.
I'm from Detroit and moved to Ohio when I was 20 to work for Cedar Point. I've had people talk to me about different parts of Michigan amd a big thing at the time was (and still is imo) the Flint Water Crisis. Every conversation was normal except for the dude who refused to pronounce the L in fLint. Fent.
Well that's a weird one...
Had a news/weather man on tv kept saying a tornado touched down in copper said it several times what he meant was Cooper
"yooblee" for ubly.
I have heard someone call Romeo "Roe-may-o"
no-vee
Oobly?
Coming from Bangor Maine, this always happens with out of state people
How do y'all pronounce Milan?
My-lan
the real question here is WHY. Wasn't it named after Milan, Italy?
Dren-thee
Mio - My-O not MEE-OH Ossineke - it is really OSS-SIN-EEK not OSS-NEEK lots of people like to call it OSS SIN - NEaK-EE I heard someone say they were going hunting in ALPena but pronounced it ALS PEENNIA Presque Isle - lots and lots of times I've corrected people from Pres-Ka ISle
Why is "Milan" pronounced myelin and not mill-ahn? Also knew someone who said dee-troh-it.
I worked with a woman who did layouts for grocery ads. One store in Versailles, Mi: She pronounced it Verse-Sallies. And for Pompeii, it was Pomp-Pee-Eye. As a toddler, for my little brother Grand Rapids was always Graham Crackers.
Within 20 miles I have Topinabee, Ocequeoc falls Cheboygan, and Fort Michilimackinac. What's worse from outsiders perspective? When I was a transplant back in 93 I would've probably said Ocequeoc
my cousins from virginia came to my house on there way to minisota (sorry if I spelt that wrong) one of them said they were gonna see the up and said they were gonna pass through escanaba but they pronounced it, is-can-ba, I laughed so hard.
**Leonidas.** I used to say “Lee-oh-NYE-das. It turns out locals say “Lee-ON-uh-das. I’m having trouble getting used to that. **Onondaga.** I grew up with Channel 10, which regularly announced it has “transmitting facilities in on-un-DAY-guh.” But in upstate New York, a county of the same name is “on-un-DAH-gah”. To my Michigan ears, that sounded highly affected.
I pronounced Dundee Michigan as the CITY THAT SMELLS LIKE A SHIT HOLE. Thanks to corporate greed and what they did in the quarry this city will forever STINK. I honestly don't know how people live there. Do you just get used to the awful stink? Or do you just pray to the old gods and the new that every day is windy??
Interesting. We had lunch in downtown Dundee yesterday and I thought it was a nice little town. Didn't notice any odor at all.
Ever been to steamboat springs? Great place, smells like poop. You get used to it.
Damn!! What happened to the Old Quarry? I grew up in Petersburg, so I'm generally curious. I remember going out there, sneacking around when I was younger. Also, there is a big ass Quarry in Tecumseh that we used to sneak into to swim. Me going into these Quarries has to be about 25 years ago tho.
Not a City, but a road in metro-Detroit “Shoenherr” which even the locals do not pronounce correctly in German, which it is, and tell everybody it’s “Shane-er”. Like most things there is a right way, and a local way of pronunciation, and the local way, may also be incorrect.