Hm, I've never said nor heard anyone say anything like that. It sounds dumb. What do you think we're from the Ohio state? Although funny story there...there's the whole joke about people making fun of OSU by calling UMD tUMD (the UMD). And one day someone logged into wikipedia and ran a find-replace on all UMD references on the UMD page, changing them to tUMD. It didn't manage to stay up for very long...and maybe you had to be there, but I found it very amusing.

@Udarnik - love the "pie side" reference! I'm going to have to start using that.

They are only mispronounced if everyone agrees on one way to say it. It's just like in New Orleans, the residents of which call "Norluns." 3 months away from my 49th year in the Zenith City.

I like saying Mesabi. It's like a nickname, Tommy, Billy, Maggie. Mesabi.

I totally do that, with the phone number.

I find the loss of phone-number-identity kind of sad.

When I was young my hometown was divided into two phone camps - the 338s and the 334s. All you needed to do was write "8-xxxx" or "4-xxxx." (I was a 338, by the way).

As in so many other places, every surrounding township and village had its own unique prefix, so if you saw a phone number you knew where a person lived. In another town where I lived, every neighborhood had its own distinct prefix.

Now, with cell phones, more and more prefixes and easily transferrable numbers, that identity is fading.

The DNT proclaimed me a "Duluth native" in print within two months of when I moved to Duluth--I thought that was pretty good time given I was born in Nebraska, moved back & forth between Texas and Nebraska for most of my childhood, went to college in Iowa, graduate school in Houston and didn't get to Duluth until I was into my thirties!

I, like many natives, refer to the Big Lake as the "Gitch".  However, I've seen the Anishinabe word spelled different ways, sometimes with a G, sometimes with a K, etc.  So what is it?  Gitchy Gummee... Kitchy Gammee?   Anyone know the explaination?

You also have to realize that there is no written Anishinabe language. The spellings of Ojibway words are essentially phonetic to English. There are also a lot of English bastardizations of French words in our geographic history- being that the French were the first Euros here, but most of the white settlers (that came after) were Scandihoovian.

The only thing I've heard referred to as "the Gitch" is the Kitchi Gammi Club.

I guess the Ojibwe can take some of the blame, too. Or should I spell it "Ojibwa" or "Ojibway?"

Maybe we should also blame Daniel de Gresolon. Or should I spell it "Grisolon," "Gresollon," or, the most common version, "Greysolon"? 

You've heard of Danny Gresolon, haven't you? He was the Sieur du Luht. Or should I spell it "du Lud," "du Lude," "du Lhut," "Dulhut" "du Luth" "duLhut," "Dulhud" or just call him "Sir Duluth"?

@Becca
Also a born and raised dulut-ian, you're about .5 years ahead of me (as you always will be)

And my grandpa always told me I was scandahoovian. (I haven't the slightest idea if that's spelled right.)

I'd like to believe that me and my friends coined the term D-town, but doubtful. :)

And as far as I know Superior has always been Soup-town