Help me talk like a local.

[EastsideAl]

sorry, Dtowncitylover already answered this, and I missed the post - the point of origin is in Campus Martius.

But why there? why not the river, or Jefferson?

Campus Martius was designed as the new center of the city under the Woodward Plan, which was the plan for rebuilding the city after the disastrous fire of 1805. This was really the point of changeover from the old French city to the new American one. At that time Campus Martius was actually a bit north of the city itself, but it soon grew into the center of Detroit. Eventually, of course, City Hall was located there [[as was the central market, opera house, etc.).

To add to Gazhekwe's list of mile roads above, the Michigan Ave. [[as far as Wyoming) - Ford Rd. alignment is basically zero mile. That's why when you get to the high spots on Ford Rd. on a clear day you see straight downtown.

[gnome]

sorry, Dtowncitylover already answered this, and I missed the post - the point of origin is in Campus Martius.

But why there? why not the river, or Jefferson?

One reason Was because the riverfront didn't exist in its current form. A good chunk of Hart Plaza, Jefferson ave, etc is fill. Also, when Woodward laid out the plan, Jefferson was not called Jefferson, but the River Road.

edit: oops, Eastside Al beat me to the punch.

[gazhekwe]

If you take Woodward down from Warren, it is what, a mile or so to Campus Martius. So THAT's why it is the first mile road! I wondered that myself.

[EastsideAl]

It's only a mile from the river to Warren? Seems like more.

Actually, the intersection of Warren and Woodward is about 2 miles north of Campus Martius.

However, W. Warren takes a big turn at about 24th or 25th St., just east of Grand Blvd. This is where it switches from the river-orientation of the older part of the Detroit street grid, to a directional orientation that is in line with the east-west 8 Mile baseline.

If you drew a straight line east from that directional east-west orientation of Warren you would come out about a mile north of Campus Martius - roughly at Woodward and Peterboro. That's why Warren is basically 'One Mile Rd.' out on the west side, even though Warren itself intersects Woodward quite a bit further north than that.

If you look at a map of the west side you would see several streets make a turn from the 'Detroit' orientation to the 'Michigan' [[i.e. Northwest Ordinance survey) orientation - most prominently Warren, Tireman, and Livernois. North of where Livernois turns to the directional orientation [[which it does just north of Tireman <"tire-mun">) it becomes the dividing line between the 2 orientations to just south of Fenkell <"fen-kul">.

This change in orientations is the key to several Detroit area map mysteries, such as why the dividing line between the east and west sides changes from Woodward to John R north of Six Mile.

[EastsideAl]

When I was a kid there was a small marker at the corner of Woodward and Michigan designating that as the "zero point" in the Michigan highway system. I wonder whatever happened to that?

[marshamusic]

OMG! You guys are awesome!! LOL!!!

[56packman]

If you are going to stay here a while there are some other words:

The thing above your sink that you look at yourself in while combing your hair is pronounced "Meer" --Do not call it a Mirr-oar.

Sugared up flavored carbonated beverages are called pop here, soda is what you bake with or use to clean the terminals of your car battery.

Depending on where/when your people came to the area you might call the city "Dee-Troit"

[Django]

What up doh?

Joseph Campau is simply J.C. in my neighborhood.

[p69rrh51]

Six Mile in addition to McNichols is also known as Seymour. E. Seven mile is also known as Moross. Fenkell is 5 mile and Cadieux.

I have lived on the eastside for 50 years and never once heard Cadieux referred to as 5 mile.
For those who live in Grosse Pointe its East and West Grand, because here Grosse Pointe Boulevard is referred to as the Boulevard.

[p69rrh51]

Yeah! I forgot a out 7 Mile/Moross. I didn't know that Fenkell was Cadieux!! Wow!

So, I'm sure this has been asked on this board a million times, and I've forgotten - the mile roads are ____miles from where? The river? Jefferson? Campus Martius? Where?

Cadieux does not go anywhere near Fenkell! The street ends not far past I-94 at Morang. Morang ends at 7 Mile just before 7 changes to Moross.

[p69rrh51]

Last for those who have been trying for years to figure out how 3 Mile Drive on the eastside relates geographically stop! The street name is derived from from the 3-one mile long horse racing tracks that were on the eastside.

[65memories]

Lahser...the family was once on J.P. McCarthy's Focus show on WJR and they confirmed that they pronounce their last name LASH-er

[wolverine]

Shar-le-voy
Liver-noy
Joseph Com-po
De-quin-dur
Shane

Extra east side points:
Goethe = Go-thee
Freud = Frood

Pronunciations may vary by native side of town and ethnic origin of speaker.

Edit: Damn, we fast. But pretty much in agreement.

People incorrectly pronounce Goethe as Go-thee in Detroit?

In most other places with that street name, it's correctly pronounced GUR-tuh

[oladub]

Eastside Al, Slight variation on Cadieux; CAD-jew 'cad' rhymes with 'bad'

One more Eastside extra pointer-
Marseilles [[if I remember); Mar-SELLS

[p69rrh51]

Eastside Al, Slight variation on Cadieux; CAD-jew 'cad' rhymes with 'bad'

One more Eastside extra pointer-
Marseilles [[if I remember); Mar-SELLS

Also I have heard caddy-oo-x from time to time for Cadieux.

[douglasm]

You know, I never thought of it, but growing up in metro Detroit may have helped me when I moved out here to the Pacific Northleft. With cities like Coeur d'Alene [[Core-de-lane) and counties like Pen Oreille [[Pon-de-ray), I didn't have any trouble grasping how to say them. And Okanogan was a snap.....

[MikeM]

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1173667967

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1180288955

A couple of threads which might help explain the local street patterns.

[MidTownMs]

People incorrectly pronounce Goethe as Go-thee in Detroit?

In most other places with that street name, it's correctly pronounced GUR-tuh

But those other places aren't Dee-troit

[antongast]

People incorrectly pronounce Goethe as Go-thee in Detroit?

In most other places with that street name, it's correctly pronounced GUR-tuh

Clarence Darrow even mocked us for it during the Ossian Sweet trial.

[drpoundsign]

dont think I can say how they pronounce Gratiot here

[MidTownMs]

dont think I can say how they pronounce Gratiot here

I think somebody already said Gra-shit...something like that.

[313WX]

Eastside Al, Slight variation on Cadieux; CAD-jew 'cad' rhymes with 'bad'

One more Eastside extra pointer-
Marseilles [[if I remember); Mar-SELLS

I thought Marseilles was MAR-SELL-IS.

[wolverine]

But those other places aren't Dee-troit

And people in those other places make fun of me for saying "Ditroit" lol

When someone said: "I think I want to visit Eastern Market along Grat-EE-yot." I nearly fell out of my chair laughing

[313WX]

So is Greiner GRAIN-er or GRINE-er?

I've always pronounced "Greiner" as GRAIN-ER.

[313WX]

Another one is Conner.

I hear a lot of people call it "CON-NERS" [[as in Connors) versus "CON-NER."