Settling The Debate: What IS The Michigan Accent?

This isn't a new topic, and if you're from Michigan, then you've definitely taken part in this debate before:

Is there really such thing as a "Michigan Accent"?

It's funny because when you're surrounded by other people who also have an accent, you don't really realize you have one. So many people love a "British" accent, but my friends in England always scoff when we talk about it because there are so many variations of British accents.   

But we're not talking about England. We're talking about America, which has anywhere from 10 to 30 accents around the country. Michigan's accent is called "Inland Northern American", or the "Great Lakes" accent. So, let's break down what specifically makes up the "Michigan accent".

The Michigan Accent

A common theme over on the r/Michigan subreddit is people making jokes about the Michigan accent, but rarely do threads get over 600 comments of people giving exact examples of the Michigan accent in action.

The top comment was very eye-opening and is what spurred this article:

Do you go to the Secretariastate to renew your license? Do you wear tennashoes?

• The signature part of a Michigan accent involves the complete disregard for spaces between words.
• The "nasaly a",
• Inability to do a short "o". "Dollar" and "college" turns into "dahller" and "cahllege"
• The glottal stop: dropping the "t" or "d". It's the idea of a soft ending.
  • The classic example is "apartment." When was the last time you said "apartment"? Or said the "t" in Detroit? No, it's more like "aparment" and "detroi". Same goes for "turtle", we tend to say "turdle".
• Meer = mirror, clothes = cloze. Both = bolth. Crayon = cran.

READ MORE: Da Yoopers: The Comedic Voice of Michigan's Upper Peninsula |

A great representation of this can be found in Cecily Strong's impression of Gretchen Whitmer. I was watching it for this article, and my friend didn't realize it was an impersonation of Gretchen. So, shout out to you, Cecily.

This is breaking down the mitten portion of Michigan's accent. We've not even touched on Da Yooper's accent, eh? Did we miss something about the Michigan accent? Let us know.