A yooper is someone who is from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Yoopers are a special breed of people, and not only are they special, they're awesome. If you are lucky enough to know a yooper, you will know this to be true. So what makes these people so exceptional?

1. Accents

Perhaps the most obvious, but you will know a yooper apart from a lower penninula "troll" (a nickname given to those who live under the bridge, given by the yoopers) based on his/her accent. Common phrases include "don't cha know," 'da" instead of "the," and "eh."

So why do yoopers have such a distinct accent? According to Wikipedia, the Finnish, French Canadian, Cornish, Scandinavian, German, and Native American descendants' languages have made such a significant impact on the population. Cool, eh?

2. Pasties

These decedent pockets of goodness are a signature UP food, made almost exclusively by yoopers. Those who have never visted the UP or do not know a yooper personally have probably never heard of these delicious hand held pastries. Perhaps described as a handheld pot pie, a pasty is a pocket made out of crust, filled with chopped meat (usually beef), potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, and onion. It is basically savory heaven in your mouth. Some dip in ketchup or mustard, others eat it plain. If you ever find yourself road tripping it to the Upper Penninsula, stop by a pasty shack and pick one up. Or, if you know a yooper who has a family recipe, ask them if you can help them make some pasties in exhange for a unique taste of the classic yooper food.

3. Saunas

This is what the outside and inside of a yooper's sauna might look like. Often yoopers' saunas are a separate building than the house or cabin and are heated by a firewood stove. Wood benches inside are a staple to the structure. Some funny and definitely accurate sayings surrounding a yooper's sauna (these are promptly taken from a sign hanging by our family sauna in my house):

1. Sit on top pench at yuu own rdisk.

(Sit on the top bench at your own risk.)

2. Memper tis: Tuu muts teem kets yuu reel tissy. Yuu dumbel town ant prake yuu pones at own rdisk.

(Remember this: too much steem gets you really dizzy. You tumble down and break your bones at your own risk.)

3. If svet kets in yuu eyes, chust plink a coppla dimes.

(If sweat gets in your eyes, just blink a couple of times.)

4. If yuu ket sliffer in yuu packsite from ta pench, ton't holler tu lowt. Naypers vil tink vee putsering a pic, ant pe looken for pork sops nex tay, ant ritavay pe asken: "Ven ta hed chese pe ton?"

(If you get a sliver in your backside from the bench, don't holler tooloud. Neighbors will think you're butchering a pig and will be looking for pork chops the next day, and rightaway will be asking: "When will the head cheese be done?")

5. Vhen yuu all ton (or if yuu lip on ta sope) pudit pack inta sope tis. Ton't leef it melden onta pench.

(When you're all done [or if you slip on the soap], put it back in the soap dish. Don't leave it melting on the bench.)

6. If yu ket tuu hot, ko chump in ta lake!

(If you get too hot, go jump in the lake!)

Yoopers abide by these well-known sauna rules (especially number six).

4. The great outdoors

The forest, the lakes, the rivers, the waterfalls - the UP has it all. The great outdoors is a part a yooper's spirit and is evident in their lifestyle and appreciation for nature. Yoopers know what real nature looks like and compare all other state and national parks to their own.

5. Family

While it may be a running joke that yoopers might end up dating a distant relative (due to the small population in the UP), family is everything to a yooper. Yoopers hang with their family at their camps and would rather choose a day fishin' with their kin than a shopping day with their friends at the mall. What makes family so important to a yooper? To a yooper, family seems to be the only people who get the yooperisms and understand a yooper way of life. In short, a yooper is no yooper without his/her family.

Accents, pasties, saunas, nature and family. These are the things that define a yooper as a yooper. I tink dat bout sums it up, eh?