How Do We Really Know If We're Yoopers?

Dear George,

When I was growing up in Menominee, we were keenly aware of living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.   Detroit seemed a million miles away, and we actually identified more strongly with Wisconsin than with the Lower Peninsula.  The Green Bay Packers — not the Detroit Lions — were our favorite sports team, and Milwaukee was our top big city destination.   In fact, many residents, including some of my own family members, wanted the U.P. to secede from Michigan and form their own state called “Superior”.  

The term “Yooper”, on the other hand, didn’t even exist during my childhood years.  According to Merriam-Webster, its first recorded usage was in 1977.  “Yooper”, of course, refers to a native or resident of the U.P.  So everybody who lives there or grew up there is, by definition, a Yooper.  However, it also makes sense to think of degrees of “Yooperness”, having to do with lifestyle, attitudes, interests, and activities.  Some people, one might argue, are more authentic Yoopers than others.  Here is a quiz, drawn from the various websites listed at the end, designed to assess how much one’s life history corresponds to a conventional Yooper profile.  Answer “Yes” or “No” to each question, and give yourself one point for each “Yes”.  With a total of 35 items, I would say that a score of 20 or more qualifies one as a Yooper through and through, and 28 makes you eligible for the Yooper Hall of Fame.  

Love,

Dave    

Have you ever:

Eaten a pasty

Been to Ahmeek

Gone ice fishing

Driven for 30 minutes through the forest without seeing a building

Played cribbage

Ridden in a snowmobile

Played ice hockey with your friends 

Walked on snowshoes

Caught a muskellunge or a northern pike 

Owned a Packer Cheese Head 

Had six-foot snow drifts on your street 

Owned a T-shirt or a baseball cap with the area code 906 on it 

Ridden in an ice boat 

Cut down your own Xmas tree from the woods 

Owned two or more guns in your household

Considered Green Bay to be the “Big City” for shopping 

Had friends who own a “camp”, not a “cottage” 

Referred to soda drinks as “pop” 

Known who Heikki Lunta is 

Known people who have hit a deer with their car more than once

Worn snow pants on Halloween or Easter 

Skipped work or school on the first day of hunting season

Used the trunk of your car as a freezer 

Told ghost stories at a campfire

Been able to correctly pronounce Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac, and Menominee

Had more venison than beef in your freezer

Carried snow chains in your trunk 

Carried a backpack weighing 20 pounds or more 

Had icicles that stretched from the roof to the ground 

Driven your car on the bay ice 

Worn flannel underwear. 

Jumped into the water with the temperature under 40 degrees. 

Had a butter burger for lunch

Had friends who swear they have seen Bigfoot

SOURCES: 

www.dayoopers.com, “What da heck is a Yooper?”; 

www.freep.com, “What’s a Yooper?” 

www.huffingtonpost.com, “You’ve probably never heard of a Yooper, but here’s why you’ll wish you were one”; 

www.matadornetwork.com, “13 things people from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula always have to explain to out-of-towners”; 

www.movoto.com, “10 Yooper stereotypes that are completely accurate”; 

www.theinquisitivevintner.wordpress.com, “What is a Yooper?”; 

www.theodysseyonline.com, 15 signs you’re a Yooper”; 

www.thepeninsulas.weebly.com, “Yoopers and trolls”; 

www.wikipedia.org, “Yooper”