http://news.yahoo.com/merriam-webster-adds-da-yoop
Post# of 17650
NEW YORK (AP) — Da "Yoopers" up dere in da U.P., Michigan's Upper Peninsula, have hit it big with inclusion of their nickname in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and the company's free online database.
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The moniker for native or longtime residents of the Lake Superior region known for a distinctive manner of speaking and its Scandinavian roots was among about 150 new words announced Monday by the Springfield, Massachusetts, company.
The update of the Collegiate's 11th edition has pleased Yooper Steve Parks, the prosecutor in Delta County, Michigan, who pushed for more than a decade to have the word recognized by Merriam-Webster. Supporters splashed their joy online when news of the higher profile spread in March.
"People up here, we really do have our own identity and our own culture," Parks said by phone Friday. "We're a really hardy bunch. We love the land, we love the lakes, we love hunting, we love fishing. You have to be very resilient to live up here."
But really? Is Yooper as recognizable as, say, the Yankees of New England? Peter Sokolowski, a lexicographer and editor at large for Merriam-Webster, insists it has