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What's a Yooper?

4K views 40 replies 21 participants last post by  spunwood 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here's a question for my fellow LJ's… What's A Yooper?

Since all posts need to be woodworking related since the coffee lounge disappeared, I'll admit that this has a little bit to do with me and my plans for a new woodworking show.

So, as part of my market research… What's a Yooper? (Hint- it isn't a tool)

If you don't know, at least give us a witty guess!

And if you know the answer, tell us what the characteristics of a yooper may be?
 
#8 ·
Jim, I looked it up on the internet. A "yooper" is a Upper Peninsula dialect for "Upper". This is to differentiate the blessed from those poor slobs living in the lower part of the state of Michigan. Someone on LJs or another woodworking site signed his comments with "happiness is north of the bridge". The bridge being "Big Mac" Big Mac is not only a hamburger it is also the Mackinac Bridge which connect the Michigan Upper Peninsula to the lower state of Michigan.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Very good, Pop. Even though you cheated. Now tell us what the characteristics of a yooper are? Maybe a better way to put it is, if you were going to mock a yooper, how would you do it? (As a born and bred Michiganian, I reserve the right to ask that without being called insensitive)
 
#12 ·
A Yooper is part Canadian, part Minnesotan, with a bit of Alaskan. They live here in Michigan "above" the bridge (those below the bridge are called trolls) and would gladly break off into their own state provided they could take the Green Bay Packers with them.
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
Back in the late '80's or early '90's I had the funniest cassette tape that was made by "Da Yoopers", ay.
I wish I could find it again just to hear their voices and dialect : )
Thanks for the flashback !!
edit : Thank God for Google and YouTube !! Here's one of the songs…Rusty Chevrolet

 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
My mom was from the UP. Great people, they talk funny (Dim guys went over der eh!) They live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. They make great Pasties its a meat rudabega potato onion wraped in a dough. We always put ketchup on them and some people put gravy on them. All my uncles were lumberjacks and they used to eat these out in the woods. My grand mother would bring pasties to them hot. My grand father worked in Quincy #1 copper mine. I used to have pictures of the snow as high as the power lines. Yoopers a great.
 
#19 ·
Note that there was a musical group, based in the UP, called "Da Yoopers". The music was pretty bad but they were funny and they gave you a taste of exaggerated UP culture. I don't think they active any more.

My son is married to a Yooper and I think she is great.
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
Snow Tree Freezing Slope Geological phenomenon


Billp- i don't know if I'd call the UP "one of the most beautiful places on earth" but it is a beautiful place. It is very sparcely settled with mostly very small towns. A great deal of it is wildlife preserve. There are lots of hills and trees and snow about 7 months out of the year! I've also lived in the Baltic (eastern Europe on the Russian border) and the natural scenery is amazingly similar!

Water Plant Water resources Flower Fluvial landforms of streams
 

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#21 ·
I shall first say great website, Just getting back into woodworking, and found this site on a few searches with questions I had in the mist of a project!

A yooper, shall I answer I myself am a yooper… we add more "a"s to everything, eat pasties, alot of us hunt,fish which for most yoopers really means drink.
Don't ask for directions unless you are used to us… example: go down 94 for about da 2 beers, hang a louie bout da 1/2 beer take a routie tree beers later ya tink ya dropped ya tranny under da ter ty trees 2 more beers and routie onta da maki road.
hope fully this helps
 
#22 ·
Map World Font Atlas Natural landscape


Who else to ask about Yoopers than Yooper81! Where are you located in th UP?

My family lived near Newberry. My uncle built hundreds of bird houses throughout the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. I suppose he was the family's first woodworker…

As for the musical group called da Yoopers- they did a lot of great songs like "The Second Week of Deer Camp", "Rusty Cheverolet" and "If I could Fart Like My Dad". They have a great website: http://www.dayoopers.com/
 

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#23 ·
I live in Sundell, my wife's family is in the curtis area, which she went to Newberry school. A small world eh? The father in-law makes alot of diffrent things with tree limbs, coat hangers, shelfs,tp holders etc. they also taught at the schools there. would you know a Mr. Douglas Mills, or Mrs. Ruthette Mills? I think they only taught at curtis, might have been newberry too.
 
#24 ·
YOOPER CREATION STORY
In da Beginning dere was nuttin.
On da first day God created da Upper Peninsula
On da second day He created da partridge, da deer, da bear, da fish, and da ducks.
On da third day He said, "Let dere be Yoopers to roam da Upper Peninsula."
On da fourth day He Created da udder world down below
On da fifth day He said, "Let dere be trolls to live in da world down below"
On da sixth day He created da bridge so da trolls would have a way to get to Heaven
God saw it was good andOn da seventh day God went Huntin
 
#25 ·
True Yooper story - - My wife and I were riding a motorcycle through the UP and we stopped at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap in Ishpeming. We bought a CD of Da Yoopers. I put it into the CD player on the motorcycle and played it as we rolled away. As we were coming into Paradise, a song on the CD had me laughing so hard that I had to stop. I was literally loosing my ability to control the motorcycle.

Yes, Paradise is in the UP. Hell is in the lower peninsula and, yes, I have ridden my motorcycle to Hell and back.
 
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