Posted on 02/12/2015 8:32:20 AM PST by cripplecreek
LANSING, MI -- Today is the 206th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, one of the greatest U.S. presidents.
There's a lot to be thankful to Lincoln for: guiding the country through the Civil War and helping end slavery. But residents of Michigan have something special to thank the 16th president for. He coined the term many of us use to describe ourselves: Michigander.
There is an ongoing debate about if Michigan citizens should be described as Michiganians or Michiganders.
Lincoln coined the term Michigander when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1848, Lincoln gave a speech against Lewis Cass -- Michigan's first governor who was campaigning for president. The word "Michigander" came from a combination of Michigan and gander, a male goose.
Lincoln used the word for goose to accuse Cass for campaigning on the coattails of (or following like a goose) president Andrew Jackson, according to the column Talking About Words from the University of Michigan. Lincoln also said Cass was exaggerating his military accomplishments.
Here's what Lincoln said, according to the column:
Like a horde of hungry ticks you have stuck to the tail of the Hermitage lion (Jackson) to the end of his life, and you are still sticking to it, and drawing a loathsome sustenance from it, after he is dead. ... But in my hurry I was very near closing on the subject of military tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tail you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander.
While the term was originally used as an insult, residents came to embrace it. But there's still a divide. While Gov. Rick Snyder uses the term, Previous Govs. Jennifer Granholm, John Engler and Jim Blanchard all used Michiganian. A 2011 poll found that 58 percent of people in Michigan prefer Michigander.
Earlier this year, I published a quiz about Michigan. The unscientific results showed that 94 percent said Michigander and 4 percent Michiganian. Out of the nearly 5,000 responses to the question, 155 said Yooper and 16 said troll, which some from the Upper Peninsula use to describe those from the Lower Peninsula.
The Under the Oaks monument used to be in a fairly upscale white neighborhood. Then it went ghetto and now has gone Hispanic and looking better.
There is a county in Missouri named Cass County after Lewis Cass. It was originally named Van Buren County, but after Martin Van Buren ran for President on the Free Soil Party ticket (opposing the expansion of slavery), the county was renamed Cass County.
There is a county in Missouri named Cass County after Lewis Cass. It was originally named Van Buren County, but after Martin Van Buren ran for President on the Free Soil Party ticket (opposing the expansion of slavery), the county was renamed Cass County.
We’ve got both Cass and Van Buren county here in Michigan as well as a Freesoil village and township.
There is also an historic plaque at Ganson and Trail street (or is that the one you speak of?)
Under the Oaks is on Franklin just east for Frank’s party store.
Happy birthday to the Greatest Republican!
OY!
Yankee Doodle was an insult song.
You take their needling and turn it around so they get the point. :)
Michigander. It is what my Great-Grandma said it was, what my Grandma said it was and what my mom said it was and by golly that is good enough for me!
(And we never called them "trolls" to their face.)
We don’t mind the troll thing.
As a Yooper once told me, Trolls bring dollars.
Bless their little wallets! Care for some fudge?
Pass on the fudge but I’ll take some smoked whitefish
I am sure I ate other things but that was the first thing I remember eating. Walking down to the pier with my Dad and buying some from the lady there and sitting with our legs dangling over the water while we munched. I was maybe three or so.
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