Motor City; Michigander; Michigas

[Pearsons, Enid]

Meshugaas  (pronounced /mish @ GAHS/) is what we have in the Random House
unabridged, and it's the noun for "foolishness; insanity; senselessness."
Meshugana is the sorta nicely crazy person (another noun), and meshuga is
the adjective you were looking for. This is not to say that there are no
other spellings or that people don't throw the terms around in somewhat
random fashion -- particularly if their Yiddish is sparse and primarily
grandparental.

I assume Barry included Michigas purposely, witty fellow that he is.

-----Original Message-----
From: storkrn [mailto:storkrn at EMAIL.MSN.COM]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 7:13 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Motor City; Michigander; Michigas


Michigas looks like the Yiddish word as some people pronounce it. I believe
it is actually spelled "mishuganah" or variations of the same. In New
Jersey, in the 60's, it was pronounced ma-shugah. The best definition I have
heard is "sorta crazy, in a nice way".

Sharyn Hay, RNC, MSN

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 11:01 AM
Subject: Motor City; Michigander; Michigas


> MOTOR CITY
>
> "Don't forget the Motor City!"
>
>    "Motor City" is not on my online OED.  I guess they forgot.
>    See George Shankle, AMERICAN NICKNAMES (1937).
>    A card in the card file of the Detroit Public Library reads:
>
> Detroit--Motor City
>    1919--2 businesses with that name
>    1921--3 businesses with that name
>    1937--13 businesses with that name
> See Detroit city directories.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> MICHIGANDER
>
>    A lot of clippings in the "Names" clipping file attribute this to
Abraham Lincoln in 1848.  A quick Making of America database check didn't
turn up any earlier cite.  I have a nice "Michigander" cartoon from the
1850s.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> WOLVERINE
>
>    The clippings in the "Names" file give the earliest cite as 1835.  A
quick Making of America check didn't turn up earlier, but maybe there's a
variant (wolvereen?).
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> MICHIGAS
>
>    Some Yiddish term, I dunno.
>