Virginia vs. Michigan: Potholes, Pronunciations, and Perilous Turns

I realized that I’ve been focusing too much on the differences between Michigan and Virginia. There are A LOT of similarities, some of them a bit stressful. 

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE 

One of my favorite coffee shops in Rockingham County, Virginia is Biggby. Yep! There’s a Biggby in Virginia—actually, there are two. There’s another location in Virginia Beach. If you ever visit, bring your Biggby card. I would have at least five free lattes if I could remember to hand mine to the cashiers. 

McConnell Adams, Townsquare Media Lansing

SEE ALSO: The 5 States Where Coffee Costs the Most: No. 1 Is Unexpected!

VIRGINIA AND MICHIGAN ALSO HAVE WEIRD SPELLINGS/PRONUNCIATION OF THINGS  

Mackinac and Mackinaw are spelled differently, pronounced the same, I’ve learned. In Virginia, there’s a town named Staunton. The “u” is silent. It’s pronounced Stant-un. Legend has it if you pronounced it wrong during the Civil War, they would know you were a Yankee...and you’d be...un-alived.  

Credit: ehrlif The Mackinac Bridge connects the Upper and Lower Peninsula of Michigan. A notable landmark on Interstate 75, it is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world.

Then there’s McGaheysville, Virginia. How did you just read that in your head? Mac-Gay-Hays-ville? Mc-Ga-hays-ville? Nope. It’s Ma-GACK-EES-VILLE. Yeah, I know there’s no, K in the spelling of that word. I guess Virginia borrowed the sound from the one Michigan left out of Mackinac.  

SEE ALSO: 7 Hard-to-Pronounce Michigan Towns That Will Test Your Tongue

WHAT’S MY DEDUCTIBLE AGAIN?  

Another thing that’s similar? Bad drivers. I had my first experience with one of those. I was making a left turn onto a two-lane. The car that was in front of me maneuvered into the right lane. I stayed in the left...fewer potholes. A bit down the road, the car—still in the right lane—signaled they were turning right. Cool, as I was still in the left lane, just behind them. As they were turning and I was passing by them, they decided to pull a WIDE right turn—like a semi-truck—and DRIFTED INTO MY LANE! Literally taking their half of the road out of the middle! I moved into the center lane (luckily no one was there) to avoid dealing with the fact I’m a non-resident and y’all have no-fault insurance.

Turn right signal on country road

I really don’t feel like replacing my shocks from the potholes AND the quarter panels from someone who thinks their sedan is a Kenworth. So how about we keep the bad driver similarities to a minimum, Michiganders. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to map out all the Biggby locations on my commute.