[sschuler1]

Avista-I agree....a "shake" has only ice cream and milk, but a "malt" has malt flavor added to it. I can't stand the taste of malt, it makes me gag. My mother used to put malt balls (or Whoppers) in my Easter basket every year because she knew I wouldn't eat them and would give them to her.

Michiganders are the only people that I would consider don't have an accent. I know that sounds conceited, but everyone that you hear on the news or on national tv sounds like everyone around here. If you strip away their accent so they can be understood by everyone in the nation, they would sound like we do in Michigan. If you go south of Toledo you will start to hear a southern accent creep into the vocabulary. If you go west past Chicago you start to hear that western twang. If you go east past Cleveland you start to hear the New Yawk accent. You start to hear the Canadian "eh?" creeping into the language when you hit the UP in Michigan though!

You know you're a true MICHIGANDER when...

1. "Vacation" means going up north on I-75.

2. You measure distance in hours.

3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.

4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.

6. You see people wearing fall formal wear = camouflage at social events (including weddings).

7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.

9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

11. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.

12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a deer 'bow target' next to your blue spruce.

14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.

15. Down South to you means Ohio

16. A Muskrat is something you can eat.

17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn,

18. You go out to fishfry every Friday.

19. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

21. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."

22. You drink pop and bake with soda.

23. Your doctor tells you to drink Vernors and you know it's not medicine.

24. You know what a Yooper is.

25. You think owning a Honda is UnAmerican.

26. You know that UP is a place not a direction

27. You know it's possible to live in a thumb.

28. You understand that when visiting Detroit, the best thing to wear is a Kevlar vest.

29. You know what a "Michigan left" is...

30. If you know that a "fudgie" is not a piece of candy.

31. If you know that a "party store" is where you go to buy alcohol.

32. If the trees in your backyard have spigots.

33. If you know how to play Euchre.

34. If you know what a pasty is..

35. If you have ever worn a winter coat with shorts.

36. If you know stores don't have "bags" they have "sacks".