29 Words That Are Interpreted Entirely Differently In Grand Rapids

1. Mitten

What it means everywhere else: Something you wear on your hands to keep them warm.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The state of Michigan, which, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s shaped like a mitten. Not to mention the extreme importance of wearing mittens here.

2. Rapids

What it means everywhere else: Rushing water in a river that makes whitewater rafting really exciting/terrifying.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The name of your city, even though there are no rapids to be found. Luckily, Grand Rapids Whitewater is working on a solution to that by planning to restore the rapids to the Grand River.

3. Grrarrapids

What it means everywhere else: Playing “Name That Michigan City” while inebriated.
What it means in Grand Rapids: How one properly pronounces ‘Grand Rapids’. It’s one word.

4. Bears

What it means everywhere else: Animals that live in faraway forests and caves in the mountains.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Animals that like to hang out in the streets and neighborhoods where you live.

5. Winter

What it means everywhere else: The season that doesn’t know when it’s not wanted, usually from December to February.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The season that doesn’t know when it’s not wanted that will stick around for nearly six months.

6. Pop

What it means everywhere else: The kind of song you’ve had stuck in your head since last Thursday and is gradually driving you insane.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The proper term for what other confused folks call “soda.” Doesn’t matter if it’s Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or any other, it’s all pop.

7. Camouflage

What it means everywhere else: What you wear when hunting or doing military drills.
What it means in Grand Rapids: What you wear as a fabulous fashion statement.

8. Beer City USA

What it means everywhere else: A beer poll that picks a city to name as the best and biggest beer loving city each year.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Home. Two years in a row. In 2014 the Beer City USA poll was retired, so that means Grand Rapids will be Beer City USA forevermore.

9. Handy Map

What it means everywhere else: A map that you keep handy for when you need it, perhaps tucked away in your car glove box.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Using your hand to show someone where you live in Michigan.

10. Buggy

What it means everywhere else: What you say to define when your electronic devices are giving you grief, as in, “My computer is being really buggy today, I would like to throw it out a window.”
What it means in Grand Rapids: A shopping cart.

11. Up North

What it means everywhere else: Somewhere significantly closer to Canada.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Going somewhere even slightly north of Grand Rapids, like Cedar Springs, Comstock Park, Big Rapids or Reed City.

12. U.P.

What it means everywhere else: What no one calls University of Pennsylvania.
What it means in Grand Rapids: How everyone refers to ‘The Upper Peninsula’.

13. Yoopers

What it means everywhere else: What’ers?
What it means in Grand Rapids: Folks who live in the U.P. of Michigan. Used to be U.P.’ers (you-pea-ers), but turned into Yoopers, which rolls off the tongue.

14. Harmony

What it means everywhere else: Pleasing musical notes and chord progressions.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The best brewery in the city.

15. Holland

What it means everywhere else: The west coast of the Netherlands.
What it means in Grand Rapids: A quaint little seaside town in Michigan.

16. Beach

What it means everywhere else: A sand shoreline along an ocean.
What it means in Grand Rapids: A sand shoreline along Lake Michigan.

17. Party Store

What it means everywhere else: A store to get balloons, paper plates and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The neighborhood convenience store. Basically a liquor store, because they know the definition of a real party.

18. Fishing

What it means everywhere else: A relaxing summer activity your grandfather partakes in.
What it means in Grand Rapids: A highly competitive, year-round sport and a great way to get dinner.

19. Crack

What it means everywhere else: An extremely addictive drug.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Extremely addictive fries from HopCat, known as crack fries. “We’re heading to HopCat for some crack.”

20. White Caps

What it means everywhere else: The white foam on a wave or a way to refer to snowy mountain tops.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Your favorite minor league baseball team.

21. Yesterdog

What it means everywhere else: A dog of times past?
What it means in Grand Rapids: The best place to get hot dogs in Grand Rapids and possibly the world.

22. Art Prize

What it means everywhere else: A prize you win for making art.
What it means in Grand Rapids: An international art competition extravaganza that takes place over 19 days in three square miles.

23. Trolls

What it means everywhere else: Those cute and ugly little dolls with brightly colored crazy bed-head hair.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Residents of Grand Rapids and other Lower Peninsula cities. They are ‘under the bridge’, and therefore trolls.

24. Amway

What it means everywhere else: A multi-level marketing company.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The company all your friends and family work for.

25. Start Garden

What it means everywhere else: Your notation of your New Year’s resolution to start a garden.
What it means in Grand Rapids: An organization that invests money into new, local business ideas. Nothing to do with an actual garden, but everything to do with growing.

26. Local Food

What it means everywhere else: Locally grown food that you get from farms in your area, usually bought at the farmer’s market.
What it means in Grand Rapids: The kind of food you eat at all the best restaurants, including Electric Cheetah, The Green Restaurant, Bluewater Grill, Marie Catrib’s, and The Green Well.

27. Reeds

What it means everywhere else: Tall grass that grows in marshy areas.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Your favorite place to relax.

28. Bank Run

What it means everywhere else: When you make a quick trip to the bank.
What it means in Grand Rapids: America’s largest and most awesome 25k road race.

29. Fruit

What it means everywhere else: A sweet food you buy at the grocer.
What it means in Grand Rapids: Sweet juicy nature’s candy that grows in wild abundance. One of the best parts about living in Grand Rapids. What other words mean something different in the Grand Rapids? Tell us in the comments below!