[rockybcn]

Originally Posted by Hack

Where I am from, you are either going "up north" or "downstate." You are either a "Yooper" (live in the Upper Peninsula or U.P. or Yoop, thus Yooper) or a "troll" (because you live in the Lower Peninsula, below the Mackinac Bridge, thus you live under the bridge and are a troll). We call tourists in the northern part of the state "fudgies" because they often frequent the many fudge shops. You often use your right hand as a map of half the state and point to where you are from, if you were born in the Lower Peninsula. You can kind of use your left hand as the Upper Peninsula. Where I am from (northern Michigan), most schools close on the opening day of deer hunting season because so many teachers and students call in sick so they can go hunting. Where I am from, it can snow as early as October and as late as April or May. Where I am from, Canadian coins are accepted as change and given as change just like American coins, except for the Loonie...we don't take the Loonie. Where I am from, you either eat your coney dogs Flint style or Detroit style. And always with mustard and onions. In fact, that's the only time I put mustard on a hotdog.

Where I am from, my little hometown on the shores of Lake Huron, it is not unusual to hear a little Polish at a certain butcher shop because the butcher knows Polish to talk to some of the older customers, some of whom still feel more comfortable talking what they grew up talking (Polish). So, you sometimes hear "Dzien dobry" in the morning. In my hometown, there is a restaurant attached to the bowling alley (hey, the population is only 4500) that usually serves an all-Polish food buffet on Thursdays. All you can eat - $6, and that includes the duck blood soup. In my hometown, people buy their meats at the butcher, not at the grocery market. And there are two outstanding butcher shops for such a small town. In my hometown, there was a radio program every Saturday morning on the local radio station that was dedicated to playing Polish folk music and polkas for two hours. The man who hosted it recently died, so I think the show will die too...and that makes me sad. In my hometown, there are essentially two churches -- Catholic and Lutheran. My town is almost evenly divided between the churches and between Polish and German ancestry (I am half and half). On Christmas Eve, the Catholic Church has a 6 p.m. Mass and the schoolchildren from the Catholic school sing Christmas carols in Polish and the little old Polish ladies (who still wear scarves or kerchiefs on their heads at church) sing along in Polish too.

Fun thread.

I lived in Michigan almost 40 years and I am also from a German and Polish heritage. I miss Fat Tuesday and sharing Paczki´s with everyone. I miss homemade gumpkis ánd I miss the pasties made in the UP. I just plain ol miss Michigan....well, ´cept for the snow!