How do you pronounce "UMich?"

bclintonk
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:05:53 +0000

In national and international academic circles it’s “Michigan”—universally recognized. Among students there it’s “Michigan” if you’re OOS or have further academic or professional ambitions on a national scale; but you might call it “U of M” if you’re in-state and went there mainly because you chose it over in-state rival Michigan State, which you know simply as “State.” If you’re a student at any other rival school it’s generally “Michigan,” enough said; or occasionally—but only occasionally—the more formal “University of Michigan.”

No one calls it “U Mich” by any pronunciation except a small handful of oddballs on CC, most of whom are trying to put it down by lumping it in with a lot of “U So-and-So’s.” So I guess what I’m saying is that “U Mich” is at once an idiosyncratic and vaguely derogatory term which you should avoid if you have any ambitions of ever going there, working there, or recruiting anyone from there.