Porch Notes
How 'Yooper' Made It Into the Dictionary
History and culture
It took one determined Yooper more than a decade of letters, stories, and maybe a few pasties to get a beloved Michigan word into the dictionary.
If you’re from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you’re a “Yooper” — from “U.P.-er.” It’s a proud badge of identity for people who live north of the Mackinac Bridge, with their own accent, their own foods (hello, pasties) and a fierce love of the North Woods. (Folks from the Lower Peninsula, by the way, get called “trolls” — because they live “under” the bridge.)
For years the word was everywhere in the U.P. — on products, in newspapers, in conversation — but it wasn’t in the dictionary. That bugged Steve Parks of Gladstone, a Delta County prosecutor, after he noticed “Yooper” wasn’t playable in a game of Scrabble. So he started writing letters to the editors at Merriam-Webster, year after year, often including U.P. stories and treats to make his case. He had to prove it wasn’t just a tiny local term.
His decade-plus campaign finally paid off. In 2014, Merriam-Webster added “Yooper” to its Collegiate Dictionary, defining it as “a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — used as a nickname.” (Merriam-Webster’s own entry traces the word’s first known use to the 1970s.) The U.P. celebrated — probably with a pasty.
Where to see it
Look it up yourself at merriam-webster.com. To experience Yooper culture in person, visit the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, which documents the region's distinct identity and history.