What’s a Doorwall? Lion Around podcast tests Michigan slang

For the second episode of Lion Around, Monica Freeman decided to test a few student’s knowledge with a Michigan slang test. Freeman tested her co-host Gina Geliche, as well as art and design students Denia Bent and Ramona Kuhn. The idea initially came from Freeman watching Youtube videos of actors and actresses sharing slang from their respective countries or states, which made Freeman curious as to what was considered Michigan slang. After some research, and some discussions with fellow Michiganders, the Michigan slang list was created.

It was the hosts’ goal to test students who were not from Michigan and Bent and Kuhn were deemed as the perfect candidates.  Bent originates from Florida and is in her junior year at Finlandia. Prior to coming to FinnU to play softball and study art and design, Bent had never been to Michigan, so winter was a little bit of a shock for her. Kuhn on the other hand, has experienced winter her whole life, hailing from St. Cloud, Minnesota. In her second year at FinnU, Kuhn had also never been to Michigan prior to coming to college. With introductions out of the way Geliche, Bent and Kuhn prepared to navigate the exciting challenge of the Michigan vernacular.

Some of the slang was easier for the guests, like Yooper and pasty. Other words were not as easy. The biggest word that was up for debate was the word “doorwall,” a word that is more commonly used in southern Michigan. The word is another way to reference a sliding glass door, or a patio door, but when confronted with the word, Geliche, Bent and Kuhn all responded with similar answers, basically saying that a doorwall is a wall full of doors.

Many laughs were shared throughout the span of the episode. To test your knowledge of Michigan slang, check out the episode below, Subscribe to the Finlandia Podcast Network to catch every episode of Lion Around as well as other Finlandia podcasts.