11 Words And Phrases People In Michigan Just Don’t Understand

Here in Michigan, we've got a few phrases and terms that we and we alone understand. It's in our nature, depending on what part of the country we live in, to pick up on certain mannerisms that others just wouldn't comprehend.

So it's funny when we Michiganders travel outside of the state and are baffled by the dialects that folks in other regions of the country have picked up on. Here are a few such phrases.

1. Cabinet

Go to Rhode Island and try to order a milkshake and you may get blank stares in response. That's because folks there call it a cabinet.

2. Hotdish

To most of us, it's a casserole. Travel to the other side of the Upper Midwest, to Minnesota or South Dakota, and it's hotdish. Makes sense in that it is, well, a hotdish.

3. Hella

Go to California, specifically the Bay Area, and you're likely to come across people using the term, hella. It's like shorthand for hell of and used to emphasize the severity or seriousness of a situation. It's hella foggy. It's hella hot. It's hella... You get it, right?

4. Hoagie, Hero, or Grinder

It's a sandwich, a sub. Sometimes we hear it referred to as a hoagie (Pennsylvania), or a hero (NYC)... But a grinder?? That's all New England.

5. Hoss

There's a lot about Texas we don't understand, and "hoss," which appears to be slang in TX for friend, is one of those things.

6. Jumble Sale

We get garage sale, or yard sale, even rummage sale makes sense... Jumble sale though, not sure we've heard that before.

7. Sigalert

OK, so most of us have sat in a traffic jam. But by and large, what we consider rush hour is pretty light compared to how commuters have it elsewhere. In Southern California, for example, traffic is consistently so bad that there's a special word that radio announcers use: Sigalert. It signifies a bad car wreck or other serious incident. To Angelenos, hearing that word can ruin an afternoon. Here? Meh.

8. Soda

We hear out-of-towners use this word to refer to pop all the time. Still manages to get under our skin.

9. Thongs

If your mom yelled out to you as you were packing for the beach, don't forget your thongs, you might be alarmed (why would your mother want you to wear THAT to the beach). Others may just grab their flip flops though.

10. Whirlygust

Wind gust, strong winds, sure... Whirlygust, though. Sounds like a made up word by a goofy weather man.

11. The Industry

To us Michiganders, if someone's talking about "the industry," we may have an understanding that they're talking about the automotive industry. Out west though? No, that's all Hollywood, baby.

Saayyyy whaaaaa? Tell us, what are some of the words or phrases that you hear elsewhere that never fail to leave you scratching your head?