Business, Humor, Social Commentary

Mitten Envy

10 Comments

No, this isn’t about how Romney feels about Newt’s latest poll numbers, but how Wisconsin is trying to abscond with Michigan’s image. I have to admit, though, that it’s pretty funny how she says they point at their hand to show where they live (a long-time lower-peninsula behavior for Wolverines). This calls for a contest to determine just what Wisconsin is actually shaped like. It’s sort of a Rorschach test.

10 thoughts on “Mitten Envy”

  2. By all things holy, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula should be part of Wisconsin, or at least independent. It’s a mitten that’s not even connected by a string.

    Wisconsin could obviously take the sparsely populated region by direct land invasion, and if Wisconsin could field enough naval forces to prevent lake-borne reinforcement from the main body of Michigan (the only part of Michigan that is really Michigan) they could take and hold it easily, freeing the UPers from the disfunctional tyranny of Detroit and the whims of Lansing.

    The only question is whether their cheese would last through the winter, or whether Wisconsin forces would be forced to withdraw back to Green Bay to avoid starvation or face defeat at the hands of intrepid Lions fans rowing longboats across the Straits of Mackinac during a winter gale, perhaps as part of an island hopping campaign from Cheboygan.

    1. Actually, at one time, prior to statehood, the Michigan Territory included all of the UP, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. They should have demanded all of it as part of the state in exchange for Toledo after the border war with Ohio, instead of just the UP. Lousy negotiators. Then they’d have three NFL teams, one or two of which might be good.

  3. Actually, at one time, prior to statehood, the Michigan Territory included all of the UP, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.

    For a brief period the Michigan Territory included all of what is now Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and much of the Dakotas.

  4. I was born and raised in the Lower Peninsula, but I sure as hell am *NOT* a “Wolverine”. Where’d you get that? I know that those ugly badgers are the state animal and all, but “Wolverines” in Michigan specifically refers to students/alumni of UofM.

    Unless you’re saying that those who didn’t attend UofM don’t actually count. I’ve met “Wolverines” who actually believe that…

    1. Sorry, didn’t intend to offend, but historically it was the term for Michigan residents, like “Hoosiers” in Indiana. That’s where the U of M team name came from. How they got that name remains unclear, since there has never been much of a wolverine population in the state, but some think it was because the early settlers were willing to eat wolves (also the fare of wolverines).

    2. Googling (or in this case, Binging) “Wolverine State” comes up with lots of links:

      There are different theories about why Michigan was nicknamed “The Wolverine State.” Many people thought wolverines roamed through Michigan, but that has been proven false. It’s more likely that Michigan acquired the nickname by being compared to the gluttonous, vicious wolverine. During a dispute in 1835 between Michigan and Ohio over the piece of land bordering both states, people from Ohio reportedly described Michiganders as being as vicious as wolverines. Another story reports that Native Americans gave Michigan the nickname in the 1830s because Michiganians were going after land the way blood-thirsty wolverines went after food. Whatever the reason, the University of Michigan adopted the wolverine as their mascot and Michigan residents proudly embraced the nickname of “The Wolverine State.”

      Read it and weep… 😉

      1. And still, in 28 years there, I never once heard “wolverine” used as a demonym. It was always “Michigander” (which I really do find grating).

        If that term ever comes into general use again, it’s going to be awfully confusing for the college sports teams to be Spartans or Chippewas or whatever and Wolverines at the same time…not to mention how conflicted MTU’s Huskies would be.

  6. On first glance Wisconsin is shaped like a badly cut piece of cauliflower. I can buy that it looks like a fist. Minnesota is cool – it’s a towering cumulonimbus with the top blown out into an anvil. Note that I’m not criticizing any state’s shape, or lack thereof – I have no room to do so, being from Florida, “America’s wang” (I think that’s how Homer said it).

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