Word of the Day : September 16, 2019

Yooper \YOO-per\ noun

Definition

: a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — used as a nickname

Did You Know?

The word Yooper comes from the common nickname of Michigan's Upper Peninsula—the "U.P."—and the etymology requires the same follow-up question that a challenging joke does: "Get it?" If you're not there yet, try saying them both out loud: Yooper, U.P. Yoopers have been saying both out loud now for about 40 years, but it's only in recent years that those beyond the U.P. and its geographical neighbors have begun to encounter Yooper in use. Yoopers refer to people who live in the Lower Peninsula as trolls (they live "under" the Mackinac Bridge, after all), but that nickname is still at this point too much of a regionalism to qualify for entry in our dictionaries.

Aired September 16, 2019

All Merriam-Webster content is available at www.merriam-webster.com