Help me talk like a local.

[313WX]

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?

Technically speaking, 7 Mile officially splits off from Moross just west of Kelly and ends at Kelly [[thus making Moross a completely seperate street from 7 Mile).

But eastsiders still consider Moross an extension of 7 Mile.

[313WX]

That's funny. I was in Ypsilanti a while back and I asked someone where the Ford was they said the plant is about 1/2 mile away. I said not the plant I meant the Ford expressway. They said what's that. I said it's the expressway that goes to Detroit. They said oh you mean I94. I said yes. They said why do you call it that.

It's funny how I-94 is about the only freeway we still don't refer to by name.

[313WX]

If you're talking about eastside Seymour, that's not McNichols. It just happens to roughly line up with where McNichols ends at Gratiot but its just a residential side street. However, before McNichols takes that angle NE if you follow it straight across on the map it would line up with Houston-Whittier which might be what you're thinking.

Technically, you're correct.

But in reality, Seymour is actually considered an extension of McNichols/6 Mile by eastsiders [[just like Moross and 7 Mile).

[313WX]

I once heard a talking head on The Weather Channel giving out severe storm warnings for "Grah-tee-ott" [[Gratiot) county. Didn't matter, she was pretty and I was in Vegas.

I remember someone on The Weather Channel mispronouncing Lenawee County as well during a severe weather event.

I believe they pronounced it as "LAY-NA-WEE."

[313WX]

K-mart = K-marts
Ford = Fords

as nauseum

Don't forget Meijer = Meijers.

[jackie5275]

It's funny how I-94 is about the only freeway we still don't refer to by name.

I've always known it to be the Ford Fwy, but hardly anyone calls it that anymore.

[MidTownMs]

Another one is Conner.

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

I grew up on Conners....

[JVB]

Technically, you're correct.

But in reality, Seymour is actually considered an extension of McNichols/6 Mile by eastsiders [[just like Moross and 7 Mile).

Interesting, I'm an eastsider and never heard Seymour referred to as an extension of McNichols. Moross/7 yes, because of the traffic it carries, but not Seymour.

[313WX]

Interesting, I'm an eastsider and never heard Seymour referred to as an extension of McNichols. Moross/7 yes, because of the traffic it carries, but not Seymour.

Although Seymour is a residential street and isn't nearly as big as Moross, it also carries 6 Mile's traffic the same way, as the traffic from 6 Mile headed eastward across Gratiot continues onto Seymour, or vice-versa [[thus the traffic signals at Chalmers, Hayes and Kelly).

[Hamtragedy]

Ah-ma-doo. In a sentence: Here's what I'm-a-do. [[Here's what I'm gonna do)


And my personal favorite:

Bo-fum. In a sentence: I'ma beat dey asses, bofum. [[I'm going to beat their asses. Both of 'em)

[p69rrh51]

Interesting, I'm an eastsider and never heard Seymour referred to as an extension of McNichols. Moross/7 yes, because of the traffic it carries, but not Seymour.

Seymour is an unofficial extension of 6 Mile, although one I have never considered Seymour as any part of 6 Mile.

[marshamusic]

I never thought about the pluralization of names here - Connor/s, Meier/s, kmart/s. Such an interesting thread.

[Dexlin]

I'm surprised even some locals here seem to be confused by 94. While maybe not as common as in other cities, the trend is generally the same everywhere, and that's that within the confines of a city a freeway has a name with the only difference being that maybe we actually use names more than other places, and outside of the city borders it either has another name [[since it goes into another municipality[[ies)), or it's called by its number.

For me, it's always been the Ford while in the city, the Industrial once you hit the border to and through Downriver, and I-94 once you get out of Downriver. I guess 94 is different in that it has an actual other name in the suburbs [[the Industrial), but it's just one extra step. Actually, isn't the Jeffries formally named the Rosa Parks within the City of Detroit, now? Yeah, that one hasn't quite caught on, yet.

[laphoque]

Don't forget Meijer = Meijers.

Well, you guys are forgetting the apostrophe. Meijer's. Ford's. K-mart's. Wal-mart's. Which is a generalization of using the possessive [[read: genitive) to indicate an establishment or residence belonging to the named person. Really, to be properly pedantic: K-mart's should be Kresge's, and Walmart's, Walton's. But I think it's a useful shorthand that is faster than bei in German or chez​ in French.

[Hermod]

Interesting, I'm an eastsider and never heard Seymour referred to as an extension of McNichols. Moross/7 yes, because of the traffic it carries, but not Seymour.

The "Six-Mile Road Bus" runs [[or at least used to run along McNichols and continued on Seymour to Kelly where it jogged south on Kelly before continuing east on Whittier to Harper where it terminated. As a result, Whittier was sometimes referred to as "Six-Mile".

[Hermod]

I never thought about the pluralization of names here - Connor/s, Meier/s, kmart/s. Such an interesting thread.

I think it all began with Federal's.

[marshamusic]

I think it all began with Federal's.

But Hermod, Federal's WAS Federal's. I don't think we pluralized that.

[Hermod]

Houston is actually 6-Mile if you continue the basic McNichols alignment across the map. Unfortunatly, the developer of the streets and homes in the McNichols-Gratiot-Dresden triangle short-circuited the connection.

Although outside the city of Detroit, 8-mile [[Hwy 102) also makes a shift to the southeast as Kelly and becomes Vernier as it follows the water orientation..

[EastsideAl]

Although outside the city of Detroit, 8-mile [[Hwy 102) also makes a shift to the southeast at Kelly and becomes Vernier as it follows the water orientation..

But there is also a small street called 8 Mile [[referred to by locals as "Old 8 Mile") that continues on to the east for some ways towards the lake on the 8 Mile Rd. alignment.

[iheartthed]

I remember an out of towner pronounced Gratiot GRA-Toyt.

I had a coworker [[in NYC) that was doing some GIS mapping of Gratiot County once and kept pronouncing it Grat-ee-uht.

[iheartthed]

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?

I think Gazhekwe is referring to the township system, which I think originates at Ford Rd. Measuring along Woodward, which goes northwest from downtown Detroit, not straight north, so it's not exactly 8 miles from CM to 8 Mile Rd. If you measure along one of the roads on the west side created by the township system [[Greenfield, Southfield, Evergreen, Lahser in some places, Telegraph, etc.) then it's exactly one mile between each of the east-west roads, and exactly 8 miles between Ford Road and 8 Mile Road.

[rb336]

I think it all began with Federal's.

the whole making-the-company-a-possessive thing began back when Ford was Ford's​

[Dexlin]

It's funny, the only possessive I use is for an existing company is Meijer. "Kmart's" sounds particularly silly to my ear. Maybe it's a generational thing? I'm in my 20's, and rarely hear the possessive outside Meijer. That is to say that I'm doing to the [[Ford) dealership and then I'm stopping to pick up something from Meijers, for instance.

[Pam]

The posessive for Meijer makes sense since at one time the name was "Meijer's Thrifty Acres".

[Gannon]

You don't know from freeway pet names until you try to decipher a Chicago traffic report.

I've heard people complain that Detroit's freeways aren't posted with their proper names, but those...Chrysler, Ford, Fisher, etc...have ALL fallen out of fashion as the nearby factories they were named around fell into dust and rust.

Then on the service drive for I-375 at Larned/Congress I saw a Detroit street sign for the Chrysler...go figure.

At least we haven't begun giving them personhood status, like when they say The 5 or The 405 in Los Angeles. Then again, freeways are more tempermental in LA. We always include the I in the Interstate titling...