Yooperology: Exploring All Things Related to Yoopers

According the the website Yooper-Michigan.com , the acronym "Yooper" was first created and used by cartoonist Dan Rosandich in the 1970's. Prior to that, people living above the Mackinac Bridge were referred to as a U.P ers. Mr Rosandich created a set of U.P cartoons for the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton MI. All they were lacking was a title and that is when the term "Yooper" was born.

Another version I've read is that in 1979 the Escanaba Daily Press had a contest to come up with the best word to describe people living in the Upper Peninsula. The winner was Brett Crawford who submitted the term "Yooper." (Source: Yooper - It's Michigan's second language, eh?)

However, I believe the former version. You can find Dan Rosandich here on Squidoo and he, or someone representing him, actually signed my guestbook. So thanks to Dan, we are Yoopers now, and Yoopers we shall stay. You can find more information at Yooper Doopers: The First Publication of the Word Yooper.

I know, it is hard to explain. Even a lot of Americans don't know where the U.P. is. So I've provided a map. The red at the top is Canada. The green area belongs to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin. The white is the Upper Peninsula. I grew up on the very tip of that peninsula sticking out in the water. And yes, it snows a lot there.

By Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan.png: User:Yassie derivative work: Saukkomies (Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan.png) [GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

If you visit Yooperland, you will notice that some of the people there talk funny. I'm talkng about the Yooper dialect. Primarily what you will notice is that almost every sentence ends with "eh?" with an upward inflection at the end. There is also a tendency to leave out prepositions, so that someone who is saying they want to got to town, will say "Let's go town, eh?" According to Wikipedia's Page on Yooper dialects, this is an influence from Finnish language, which doesn't have the preposition "to" or articles "a," "an," or "the." The use of "eh" and "heh" is derived from Cornish English ("eh"), Canadian English, Canadian French ("hein"), and Anishinabemowin/Ojibwe ("en").

The area is heavily populated with people of Finnish ancestry, as well as Swedish, Croatian, and German. I am half Finnish and half Swedish. When I was young, I remember that some of the elders did not speak English. Now it would be rare to come across a person who could not speak English, and most young people, myself included, did not learn the language of our ancestors.

This type of speech is not limited to the UP. It can also be found in Northern Minnesota, part of Canada, and other midwestern states. Not all Yoopers speak that way either. My mother refused to let me add the "eh" to my sentences. People tell me that I sound like I come from Minnesota, so I must still have some of the unique lilt in my voice.

When I moved away from the area, I was surprised to find out that Yoopers use unusual words. For example, when you are making a snow fort, you will want to "pank" the snow. That refers to patting or compacting the snow with your hands. I did not realize that no one outside of the U.P. knew what that meant. Some other unusual phrases include "side by each" and "make wood."

The boys also wear "choppers" in the winter, which are big mittens, and "swampers" which are big boots. Okay, some of the women wear them too. Hey, it gets cold in the North country! And before the invention of snow blowers, most of the snow was removed from driveways by a "snow scoop,"

Some people feel the Yooper accent is rather forced by some, or spoken with a tongue firmly in cheek. An article called American Regional Dialects - The Midwestern 'Non-Accent' stated "A true Yooper accent is somewhat difficult to find."

My husband visited the UP with me and met some of my childhood friends that still live there. He said he felt their accents were definitely real, not contrived. And they did say "eh" a lot.

Some people feel that the accent makes us sound as though we are backwoods "hicks." Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yoopers tend to be well educated, attend universities, and hold down prominent jobs all around the world. We have nothing to be ashamed of. But just as people from the South take pride in their accent, a Yooper accent is something unique that sets us apart from the crowd. Ya betcha, eh?

Yooper Button available at Real Yooper

Thursday, Feb 10, 2011 was a memorable day. President Obama visited the Upper Peninsula. He is not the first president to visit, but it is important because he was there to promote the use high speed Internet network that Northern Michigan University developed along with local communities.

"It is wonderful to be here in the Upper Peninsula with so many Yoopers," said Obama to the crowd at Northern Michigan University.

I found a hilarious article written by Andrew Heller / Flint Journal who imagines what the briefing Obama might have gotten before he left. Some have found it to be disrespectful to Yoopers, but I feel that we have a sense of humor and can laugh at ourselves a little.

"News item: President Obama will visit Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, Thursday, (February 10th 2011), to deliver a speech praising the university's high-speed wireless data network.

Aide: "OK, Mr. President, time for your briefing on the Upper Peninsula - her people and their customs and peculiarities."

Obama: "All right, proceed......."

Aide: "Just roll with it, sir. Now, a word about the local vernacular. First, some terms you should be aware of. 'Chuk' or 'chook' means a stocking cap. 'Yah' means 'yes,' 'dat' means 'that,' and 'dere' means 'there.' So if you meet someone in a funny cap, you could say %u2026?"

Obama: "Yah, dat's a fine looking chuk ya got dere."

Aide: "Exactly, but remember to add the interrogative 'eh?' to the end of every sentence. They do that up dere %u2026 er, there. Even though it may sound like a question, it's not. It's just an all-purpose verbal tic, and it can mean different things in different circumstances."

Obama: "Yah, dat dere's pretty odd, eh?"

Aide: "Very good, Mr. President. Oh, and one more thing. If someone says 'Holy wuh!' or 'Holy wah!' it's not a religious expression. It means 'I'm astonished!' or 'I'm disgusted!' depending on the situation."

Obama: "Whew, this Upper Peninsula sounds like one strange, complicated place."

CLICK HERE to view the entire article

I ran across a webpage called, You Know You are a Yooper When... It contained those cute little sayings like

You know you're a Yooper when...
You've ever had a snow day after Mother's Day.

Your county spends more time and money on the snowmobile trails than they do the state highways.

You include Wisconsin in "the deep South".

You design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

But I quietly chuckled over this one.

"You know you are a Yooper when you can spell Ahmeek, know what Ahmeek means, and know where it is."

I know the answer to all of those, because Ahmeek is the name of the town where I lived in the winter. In the summer we moved to Copper Harbor where my parents had the rock shop.

The word Ahmeek is an adaptation of the Chippewa word "Ahmuk" which means "beaver." Ahmeek is located in southwestern Keweenaw County along US-41 and M-26.

The town was built near the Ahmeek mine, which was opened in 1902. It actually has two parts; Ahmeek Village and Ahmeek Location. The Village, which is where I lived, was incorporated in 1909. Ahmeek Location is across the Highway 41, and is where many of the miners and their families lived when the copper mines were still active.

I attended grade school in the Location area and, as old-timers like to relate, we did walk to school every day, a distance of about half a mile. We also had to walk, walk, walk home for lunch, and then turned around and walked, walked, walked back for the afternoon session.

In those days, parents did not drive their children to school. Since school was seldom cancelled for bad weather, we learned to bundle up before starting our trek. In the picture above, my house is the one on the right. You can see the size of the snowbanks I had to climb over just to get to the street.

I was once called to the principal's office for passing a petition requesting that we be allowed to bring sack lunches during bad weather. Even though our parents signed it too, I was considered to be a "troublemaker."

According to Wikipedia, the 2000 US Census puts the population of Ahmeek at 157 people. 29.1% were of Finnish, 19.6% Italian, 12.2% German, 12.2% English and 7.4% French ancestry. My father was of Finnish descent and my mother was Swedish. She passed away in 2009.

At one time, Ahmeek had seven saloons. It also had its share of "gang" problems, troublemakers who had taken over the local businesses and would shoot at passing automobiles and horse-drawn carriages. This happened around 1913-14. Today is it a quiet little town, easy to miss as you drive by on the way to Copper Harbor. (Source: Clarence J. Monette, "A Brief History of Ahmeek, Michigan"

Photo of my house in winter from my personal collection.

Yooper Ya Betcha, Eh?
T-Shirt
Improve Your Image
Marry a Yooper
Yooper Ya Betcha, Eh?
Infant T-Shirt
Yooper Ya Betcha, Eh?
Multicolored Map T-Shirt
Superior, USA
The Yooper State
SISU
U.P. T-Shirt

You might have seen the word "SISU" on one of the shirts above and wondered what it meant. It is a Finnish word and it means basically having will, determination, or perseverance. Or in other words, "having guts." Now we are not talking about a one time act of courage here, but an attitude of determination and toughness that endures over time. Thus if you can brave the Upper Peninsula winters, you can say you have SISU. The word became known to the world during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1939-40.

Read more about it at Wikipedia.

Marquette Yooper

Copper Harbor Yooper

SISU Yooper

Improve Your Image
Marry a Yooper
Ya Betcha, Eh?
Yooper Cap
Yooperland
by Dan Rosandich

Buy at AllPosters.com

The summer of 2007, I took a trip back to my hometown of Copper Harbor. I hadn't been home for 18 years, and I was really looking forward to revisiting the places of my youth. Copper Harbor is a little tourist town located on the tip of the Keweenaw peninsula. My parents owned the Keweenaw Agate Shop and we spent every summer there until they sold it in 1973.

I have a lot of fond memories of those times, from attending the one-room school during the fall, watching the Isle Royale Queen come back from it's trip to Isle Royale National Park, going to the "Bear Pit" (town dump) to watch the tourists watch the pile of garbage hoping to see a bear, and riding our bikes to Fort Wilkens State Park where we would pretend to be Indians sneaking into the Fort. (In actuality, there never was a problem with the Native Americans in that area). For more information, read my articles on Copper Harbor.

Common Tourist Questions About Copper Harbor, MI

Encounters With Black Bears in Copper Harbor, MI

I was afraid that Copper Harbor would have grown over-commercialized over the years, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it still has that small town feel. I love browsing all the gift shops and even went into the Agate Shop, which was under new management. Imagine my surprise to find my old, orange wagon sitting in the shop, with my name still stenciled on the side! The shopkeeper looked kind of puzzled when I exclaimed, "There's my wagon!." I had to explain that I had grown up in that store and I guess he thought I was going to demand to keep my wagon for he rather defensively said, "we found it under the building."

There is so much to see and do at Copper Harbor, from a tour of the Copper Harbor lighthouse, which is reached by a short boat ride, hiking to Hunter's Point, and driving up to Brockway Mountain for a great view of Lake Superior. But most of all, I found it to be a place to relax and get in touch with my roots again. The picture is of me with Wanderer, our gnome, and the lighthouse in the background.

Addendum: We made another trip there the summer of 2009 for my mother's memorial service. Sad to say, the old store was empty and up for sale. To think that my parent's offered it to me once, but I had other plans at that time.

Learn more about Copper Harbor at my lens I Love Copper Harbor, Michigan

I Love Copper Harbor, MI Ornament by RealYooper

All designs are customizable. You can change colors, text, and even move the little heart graphic to point out your town. Want to Love Iron Mountain? Just move the heart over to that spot where your true heart lies and change the name of the city.

Yooper- Ya Betcha, Eh?

Happiness Is
Being Loved By a Yooper
I Love Da UP

I Love Marquette

I Love Copper Harbor

Copper Harbor Lighthouse

I never envisioned living in a place where you couldn't easily get a pasty. In the UP it is considered a staple food dish, and I remember that we had them every Thursday. Usually my mother and grandmother made them, sometimes as fundraisers for the church. Later she would send my father to the pasty shop to buy them.

What is a pasty, you ask? A pasty is a meat pie that may contain pork, beef, potato, rutabaga, carrots and onions baked in a light pie crust. The ingredients vary, and there are many different pasty recipes. Some people insist you cannot put in carrots, but I know that my mother always did.

The story is that the pasty originated in Cornwall. The tin miners would take them down into the mines so they could have a complete meal that was easy to eat. The practice came to the United States, and the Upper Peninsula, when the Cornwall miners came over to work in the copper and iron mines. Their tradition was quickly adopted by the Finnish and Swedish people, and frankly, for years I thought it was a Finnish dish.

I worked my way through college as a waitress in Copper Harbor. Every restaurant featured the Pasty on the menu. Very often, tourists would pronounce it with a long A, saying "pay-steee", instead of with a soft A, "pass-stee". This led to a lot of giggles. One day I was serving a couple and the man asked me if he could have a "pay-stee". I said, with a completely straight face, "sir, that is something you wear. But I can get you a pass-stee." He broke into laughter while his wife looked on, not very much amused. I did get a big tip from that table, though.

I usually order my pasties from Pasty Central, located in Calumet, MI. They are shipped frozen and usually arrive in 1-2 days. Yumm....my tummy is getting hungry.

Some more You Must Be Yooper If ......

You know pasties are eaten, not worn.
You know the only proper way to eat a pasty is with ketchup, and you are appalled at anyone who would even think to put gravy on their pasty.
When you go out of town, you fill your trunk full of GOOD pasties

PASTY, YOOPER Soul Food by RealYooper

True die-hard Yoopers love it there year round. I have to admit, I've become a snowbird. I fly south in the winter because I personally don't care to see any more snow. But even those who love the snow are excited when spring comes around once again.

For the slideshow, I put together a sample of pictures taken in the UP in the spring. All photos courtesy of Pasty.com. You might want to visit their forum....they have new pictures every day. The "locals" and those of us who are no longer local, drop by and talk about the pictures and the goings on, like "can't wait to make a trip to the UP"