Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Welp" is a folksy way to start a sentence like "Well,..." with an air of resignation. The internet/social media/peak Twitter (like ten years ago) have desperately wanted to make it out to be some great midwestern thing, but it's kind of not. I've lived in Michigan for 25-ish years (Ann Arbor and Detroit suburbs) and have never heard it here.

"Ope" is a way of saying "oops, I'm sorry" that's supposedly common to the upper Midwest. I've heard it here in southeastern Michigan from exactly one person -- a former coworker from Michigan's Upper Pennisula who used to bust out his UP talk from time to time. Well, plus the Eminem.

Michigan native here living on East coast. I dont remember people using those expressions. But I do say "Yep" frequently and [youtube]get called out on it by my family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're going to hear way more of ope and welp in either Madison or Ann Arbor than in Evanston.

I don't even know what these mean after 25 years of living in Michigan as a non-native.

Welp is well? Feels like something from an Archie comic.

What's ope?

Non-native for sure.

I lived in the Detroit suburbs for over 50 years and have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

+1. Necer heard of ope before this thread

Anonymous wrote:NP. I think the referenced expressions may be a generational thing, not a geographic location thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're going to hear way more of ope and welp in either Madison or Ann Arbor than in Evanston.

I don't even know what these mean after 25 years of living in Michigan as a non-native.

Welp is well? Feels like something from an Archie comic.

What's ope?

Non-native for sure.

I lived in the Detroit suburbs for over 50 years and have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured both and also have family in the midwest

Michigan definitely feels like a big midwest university in a college town where sports are king and the university is the center of the town.

When you visit, you know that Michigan is in the midwest. Midwest nice, everyone is into sports, college town feel.


In contrast, Northwestern feels more upscale, more urban. It is in a college town in the way that George Mason is in a college town. Evanston is similar to City of Fairfax, where the college is located there, but is not the purpose of the town. NU is similar to GMU in that the kids don't go to the town for fun, fun is either on campus or taking the train to the city, where there is lots of culture, food and entertainment.

Michigan = big public university centered on sports in a midwest college town vibe

Northwestern = mid sized private university with all the trappings that come with expensive private universities in an upscale town near a major city vibe.

I look at the entire campus atthe University of Michigan. The sports campus is just a small part of the school located about 1/2 mile south of the main campus and even farther away from the medical and north campuses. You can roam the academic/ medical parts of Michigan and not even see the athletic campus. Michigan is definitely not centered on sports.

Anonymous wrote:We toured both and also have family in the midwest

Michigan definitely feels like a big midwest university in a college town where sports are king and the university is the center of the town.

When you visit, you know that Michigan is in the midwest. Midwest nice, everyone is into sports, college town feel.


In contrast, Northwestern feels more upscale, more urban. It is in a college town in the way that George Mason is in a college town. Evanston is similar to City of Fairfax, where the college is located there, but is not the purpose of the town. NU is similar to GMU in that the kids don't go to the town for fun, fun is either on campus or taking the train to the city, where there is lots of culture, food and entertainment.

Michigan = big public university centered on sports in a midwest college town vibe

Northwestern = mid sized private university with all the trappings that come with expensive private universities in an upscale town near a major city vibe.

Anonymous wrote:At Michigan, if you are driving and signal to change lanes, the person to your side is going to slow down slightly and is likely to flash their lights or wave you over so you have enough space to change lanes.

At Northwestern, if you are driving and signal to change lanes, 50/50 chance that the driver to your side is going to speed past you, with a 15% chance that they will cut you off or block you from changing lanes.

Based on this, Michigan is very midwest nice, and Northwestern has a hint of an east coast edge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the hallmarks of midwestern feel? Domestic beer and welp and ope?

Midwestern nice. Not sugary and obvious like southern nice and you won't know it's not genuine unless you are a native. Can be frustrating for NYers.

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern feels more East Coast than Michigan, but Michigan feels more East Coast than most of the other flagship Us in the Midwest. Indiana also feels pretty East Coast, but less so than Michigan. Wisconsin I would say is probably similar to Indiana in terms of "east coast" feel.

Other flagship Us/traditional Big 10 schools - Minnesota, Illinois, U of Iowa, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan State - have never really attracted coastal students in the way that IU, Michigan, and Wisconsin have. (Northwestern too, obviously, but that's private so kind of a different thing.)

Penn State is a bit of a wild card because it draws heavily from the Philadelphia area (which is objectively east coast both with geography and culture) and lots of kids from other mid-atlantic states, but also plenty from the western part of the state which feels more Midwestern (but ultimately is not considered part of the Midwest) or even Appalachian, and the central part of the state which is like a weird mix of Appalachian, Eastern, and Midwestern. So just because of the state of Pennsylvania's varied geography and cultural influences it doesn't feel *totally* east coast in the way that say, UMD or Rutgers do, but I would say overall it's more east coast in feel than Midwestern.

Anonymous wrote:"Welp" is a folksy way to start a sentence like "Well,..." with an air of resignation. The internet/social media/peak Twitter (like ten years ago) have desperately wanted to make it out to be some great midwestern thing, but it's kind of not. I've lived in Michigan for 25-ish years (Ann Arbor and Detroit suburbs) and have never heard it here.

"Ope" is a way of saying "oops, I'm sorry" that's supposedly common to the upper Midwest. I've heard it here in southeastern Michigan from exactly one person -- a former coworker from Michigan's Upper Pennisula who used to bust out his UP talk from time to time. Well, plus the Eminem.