Mitten State: Michigan Nickname Used In Wisconsin Tourism Campaign

Michiganders are up in arms over an infringement from their biggest rival since Ohio (see the Toledo War, Ohio State football): Wisconsin. The erstwhile cheeseheads have co-opted a Michigan nickname for a recent tourism campaign.

Michigan takes the nickname "the Mitten State" for the hand-like shape of the Lower Peninsula (see these map gloves that owned by many a Michigander).

But a new Wisconsin tourism campaign uses a brown mitten that is stretched to resemble the shape of Wisconsin.

The communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Lisa Marshall, said that the mitten was only one element of the state's advertising campaign.

"You guys still own the mitten," she told the Kalamazoo Gazette. "We'd much rather our travelers consider us the 'fun' state."

Dave Lorenz, manager of public and industry relations for the state of Michigan, didn't seem fazed by the Wisconsin campaign.

"We understand their mitten envy," he told the Kalamazoo Gazette, "but there is only one mitten state, only one Great Lakes state, there's only one 'Winter Wonderland' state -- only one, and it is Michigan."

Curbed Detroit had a more pointed response, with some choice words for Wisconsites: "Listen, cheeseheads, go knit yourself a new identity and stop tarnishing the mitten with your big fat hands!"

Here's the pickle: a 1969 article in the Chicago Tribune refers to Wisconsin as "the mitten-shaped state." The Michigan Historical Society was unable to identify when the mitten nickname was first used, so we need your help. Let us know in the comments how long you -- and your grandparents -- have been calling Michigan "the mitten."

One retaliation proposed in the HuffPost Detroit office is to steal one of Wisconsin's nicknames so "they know how it feels." We've got Pinnconning -- maybe Michigan can be the new Cheese State?

Another one of Michigan's nicknames, "the Wolverine State," also has dubious origins. Wolverine sightings would have been rare, so what explains it? One source says during the Toledo War, a rumor in Ohio circulated calling Michiganders as vicious and bloodthirsty as wolverines. Let that be a lesson, Wisconsin.

Quick Poll

Who's The Real 'Mitten State'?

Michigan, duh!

Wisconsin?

Abstaining because the "Mitten State" moniker is biased against the Upper Peninsula

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[pixie top]

06:40 PM on 12/11/2011

I was always told as kid in the UP that the myth was Paul Bunyan was so upset over his lost mitten that he subconciously cut down the trees in Michigan to form a mitten shape. Paul Bunyan was first referenced in print in michigan in 1906, so....we win.

[Francis LaLonde]

03:31 PM on 12/10/2011

Wisconsin may look similar, but as the article mentioned it's merely mitten-envy...Probably due to us (Michigan) having a bigger 'thumb'...

[Francis LaLonde]

03:30 PM on 12/10/2011

BTW...that's Pinconning, NOT Pinnconning

[flya750]

07:43 PM on 12/09/2011

DUH!!!!!

[gobluegirlinTX]

07:12 PM on 12/09/2011

My parents, were born in 1938 and 1940, both in Detroit, and have lived in Michigan all their lives. They both have always known Michigan as being referred to as mitten shaped and that Wisconsin was known as the dairy state. So that preceeds the Tribune article.

[Sean Hobbins]

11:28 AM on 12/09/2011

Say Yah to da UP, Eh?

[candydandy30]

11:43 PM on 12/08/2011

I am originally from Toledo Ohio, and I am so glad Ohio won the Ohio-Michigan War, or we'd have Michigan winters! I have to say, the state from up north (Michigan) is the "Mitten State". Wisconsin, you need to give it up. You have the Packers and the Cheeseheads, don't be greedy.

[FarmLuv]

12:40 PM on 12/09/2011

Hahaha. As a Michigander, I'm so glad we lost that war. It turned out great for us.

[kennyj7178]

07:20 PM on 12/08/2011

Here's my take on it. Michigan and Wisconsin have both of my relatives living there. We're all proud American's and each state needs tourists badly. That's it!

[AuGlove5]

03:40 PM on 12/08/2011

If you're mitten needs to look like wisconsin... See a surgeon.

[PinnyCheeseGirl]

11:42 AM on 12/08/2011

It's spelled "Pinconning" and it's the Cheese Captial of Michigan! Thanks for the shout-out! Visit www.pinconningcheese.com to support local businesses as well as Michigan-Made cheese and other products! 95% of their products are made in Michigan! #puremichigan

[catbyte]

09:53 AM on 12/09/2011

Mmmmmmmm--Medium Pinconning cheese is my absolute favorite! It's awesome on tacos. :)

[FarmLuv]

12:43 PM on 12/09/2011

Another good source of Michigan made cheese is Michigan State University. It has its own dairy farm open to the public (as are all the farms). The milk is used to make cheese and ice cream at the MSU Dairy Store. At the Dairy Store you can also buy chicken and quail eggs from the poultry farm. And occasionally there are lamb, beef, and pork sales...all from animals raised at Michigan State University in East Lansing

[detroitblkmale30]

09:28 AM on 12/08/2011

Michigan always has been always will be the Mitten state. It actually looks like a Mitten, that's just common sense. Wisconsin is a mitten only if that thing coming out on the right side is a bony skeletal finger.

The following poll has agreed to settle this once and for all. Both states agreed to a bet sending state items to the other side with the winner having the Mitten state title.

http://www.michigan.org/WhoIsTheRealMittenState/

[Carleen Ward Burns]

07:44 AM on 12/08/2011

Wisconsin is shaped more like a floppy eared dog or a pistol.

[mccann25]

05:45 AM on 12/08/2011

Who cares, both are like gloves, Michigan is just jealous.

[FarmLuv]

04:27 PM on 12/08/2011

Why would MI be jealous?

[mccann25]

06:16 PM on 12/08/2011

Because some other state qualifies for the same. Otherwise they wouldn't bring up a very childish conversation.

[drtimelord9]

09:57 AM on 12/10/2011

Michigan isn't jealous, it just obviously does not look like a mitten. Would you buy a mitten shaped like that? If you did you could not wear it because you would need a deformed hand to fit. I thought people learned shapes in elementary school....

[tlpfliger]

03:14 AM on 12/08/2011

...huh, always thought michigan was the 'package' state myself...

[qsfoxx]

02:56 AM on 12/08/2011

A tempest in a teapot, for sure!