This Seems to be What Michiganders Hate the Most

We Michiganders/Michiganians put up with a lot...well, it seems like it, anyway. But what is the one thing that seems to really, really bug us the most? Road ragers? The condition of our roads? Potholes, continuous road work, crazy one-way streets and roundabouts? Someone slamming our foods like coneys, pasties, and potato chips? Or could it be our fickle weather?

“Hate” may be too strong of a word, but the one thing.....the ONE THING that seems to irk Michiganders more than anything else is when people mispronounce the names of our cities, towns, and villages. This doesn’t just apply to people from out-of-state, but there are plenty of Michigan residents who continually mispronounce our place names.

The ones that get completely butchered – even by US – are the many, many ones named after Native American lingo.

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There are three mispronunciations that drive Michiganders the craziest when said wrong...at least in the lower part of the mitten:
CHARLOTTE – It's “sharLOTT” not “SHARlitt”
MACKINAC - MackinAW, not "ACK"
OKEMOS – This one drives me nuts: “oak-em-uss" not “Oh-KEE-mose"

Other mispronounced places that may drive us to drink:
DEQUINDRE - duh-QUIN-durr
DOWAGIAC - doe-wah-jak
LAKE GOGEBIC - goh-ghib-ick
LAKE ORION - oh-ree-en
MILAN - my-lynn
OCQUEOC - ah-key-ock
ONEKAMA - oh-neck-em-uh
ONTONAGON - on-ton-ogg-on
SAULT STE. MARIE – soo saint marie
YPSILANTI - ip-sill-ann-tee. Hard to believe, but many Michiganders STILL mispronounce this with “YIP”.

Those who reside in those towns really get their feathers ruffled if you say the names wrong. If you are unsure and you happen to pass thru one of those towns on a roadtrip, look up the pronunciation first, just in case you need to do a stopover.

Lesson? We get ticked off at everybody who can’t say our names correctly, no matter if they are lifelong Michigan residents or visitors from another planet.