Talk:Michigander

Official title
I can answer your question. I put the question several years ago to a librarian at the State Library of Michigan in Lansing, and she thoroughly researched it. There was a bill back in the mid-1970's that would have made "Michiganian" the official term - but it never even got as far as the Governor's desk. I remember the state librarian telling me the bill had been passed out of committee in the House of Representatives, but I do not remember whether it was calendared for a vote on the floor. Whether it was or not is irrelevant, however, since the Senate never bothered to introduce the bill - and no bill can go to the Governor for assent unless it has passed both houses of the legislature

So, there was a bill to make "Michiganian" official once upon a time - but it never passed the Legislature and, thus, never became law.


 * Some years ago (around 1980), the Michigan legislature passed a bill that said that residents were officially called "Michiganians". Anybody have any information on the date of this?


 * Sounds apocryphal. State publications describe both terms and do not indicate any "official" preference for either. . Interestingly, this page has a link labeled as "Famous Michiganders" that links to this page and to this page, which are titled "Some Famous Michiganians". And this also explicitly addresses the question. older&ne;wiser 01:38, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Although the discussion here turns on what the state legislature does or does not call 'official', the Wikipedia page 'List of demonyms for U.S. states' defines 'official' as 'recommended' by the Government Printing Office. (It then goes on to point out that the GPO's chosen term is Michiganian). I have no brief either way for deciding what is official at state or federal level, nor for any specific Michigan demonym (most of which I had never heard of before now). However, I think a consistent policy should be adopted across Wikipedia, since it is confusing to read on one page that there is an official term, and then to read on another that there is not. Liamcalling (talk) 02:10, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

Edits on 6-14-08
Nobody calls people from Michigan Michicanese. Also, Michiganer is improper, and only people that attend U of M are called "wolverines". However, Michigan is considered to be "The Wolverine State".


 * The references to the alternative terms are properly sourced and documented. On the basis of what source are you asserting that the cited information is wrong? Fladrif (talk) 14:17, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Michigander
Speakez-vous for votre self! Lincoln did not coin the term "Michigander" - he just took advantage of its Francophone pre-existence. Michigander is from Middle French Michigand (masculine form) and Michigande (feminine) - compare Normand and Normande, which indicate a man or woman from La Normandie. Un Michigan ou une Michigande is person from Le Michigan.

Le Michigan is the French for Missigama, just as Chippewa (read "ship-wah") is the French for Ojibwe.


 * Although it has become more acceptable to non Michigan natives, using the term Michigander is still considered insulting to many here. The original use by Lincoln was in a derogatory fashion and should not be taken lightly. I am surprised that in this era of politically correct that it is acceptable to use an openly derogatory term. One should always stand up to correct a wrong doing, especially if the wrong doing is due to ignorance of the facts. One might use the word redneck because it's frequent use by comedians, on TV and in the movies has led us to believe it is acceptable when in fact it is still a degrading word. Please read Pejorative Scd (talk) 09:20, 12 January 2009 (UTC)


 * This Michigan native has always embraced "Michigander" to describe himself. It's no more pejorative than — and in fact quite similar in connotation to — calling Chicago the "Windy City".  The fact that Mr. Lincoln himself felt it necessary to disparage us by coining the term is, to me at least, a point of pride.  This is of course my opinion, and the line "has since lost its negative connotation" does still require some kind of reliable source. However, such a substantial edit as yours, especially as it has such a POV tone, definitely begs for citation. Also, adding "Michigander" to the terms mentioned in the pejorative article seems a specious way to bolster your argument. Kevin Forsyth (talk) 13:59, 12 January 2009 (UTC)