OT: Is Michigan the Wolverine State or the Great Lakes State?

No one believe a word of this thread. This is simply Roll Damn Tide. Up to the old antics.

The proper state nickname IS of course "The Wolverine State". 

It's not the Spartan state. That would instead describe the required fiscal policy of the state.

No, my theory is that "great lake state" stuff was pounded into people's skulls decades ago by the use of auto licenses plate mottos.

Up until 1954 Michigan automobile license plate had just "MICHIGAN" or "MICH" on it.

In 1954 they pulled this off: A yellow and blue plate with "MICHIGAN" and  "WATER WONDERLAND" on it:

1965 Michigan changed the license plate to "WATER-WINTER WONDERLAND". Like the colors dude, but aaarggh make up your mind, Mr. State Secretary of State!

Then in 1968, more blue and yellow "aggression that will not stand, man" for MSU fans:

Then bell-bottoms and groovy "Spirit of '76" took over the state. Like far out:

Then 1979 hit and we stopped going perpetually to the Rose Bowl (where we always lost). Next thing we know, we're 8-4 and losing to North Carolina in the Gator Bowl.

I always admired Nebraska for keeping things simple:

Patriotic...

And...what's for dinner?

Just like Iowa is the Hawkeye State, not the Great Plains State. Iowa State fans constantly try to remove the state nickname. When I was raised in MI, it was the same way. MSU fans hated with green, putrid, envy the fact that MI was called the Wolverine State.

http://michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-29938_30245-67959--,00.html 

The State Nickname is the "Great Lake State." Others include "Wolverine State" or "Water Winter Wonderland."  

http://michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-54463_54466_20829-54118--,00.html 

and if we want to go 'historical order of reference' it's officially the 'GREAT LAKES STATE' based on Indigenous people who were here before the Civil War...and Europeans/Vikings/aliens ad nauseum

"Michigan" comes from the Indian word Michigama, meaning "great lake" or "big lake." The French first used the word for the Great Lake that Native Americans called the "Lake of the Illinois"—now Lake Michigan. It was first used officially to refer to the land area when Congress created the Territory of Michigan in 1805. 

back when dinosaurs roamed the planet, thomas jefferson told joseph smith that university of michigan is the place where wolverines were genetically engineered from bear and wolf dna. When his good friend plato was killed by an escaped wolverine he decreed that no man should ever be subject to that kind of fate, so to warn others, he called it the wolverine state. This part of history was lost during the ice age, but the name persists.

In my world it is k1400's Wolverine Kingdom of Badassery.

To hell with Wikipedia, history, Google, and Notre Dame.

The Bobcat State? Longhorn State? Golden Bear State? The Gator State? The Duck State?

...how about The Gamecock State?

Who gets "The Huskie State"...Washington or Connecticut? I'm so confused!!!

Nothing personal but I've gotta go with Great Lakes state. 

It is the Enchanted Mitten, whether you're in the U.P. or a troll, as in those living under the bridge.

as the overall population of the wolverines in our state. The nickname "wolverine state" came from the Indians when speaking about the early settlers and the way the ate their food, not unlike the ravenous wolverines that actually did reside in the state until many of the great forests had been leveled. The wolverines were restricted in large part to the upper penninsula and even today, there are more wolverines in neighboring Canada and in other parts of the US  than in Michigan, but there was, at some point, a viable wolverine population.

They are rarely seen in the lower section of the state, and they are an incredible animal. Although a 40 lb wolverine would be considered large, they are considered, pound for pound, one of the most feroucious fighting animals on the planet. A photographer lucky enough to capture a picture of one near Whitehall, about 15 miles inland from Lake MI caught a photo of a "large" wolverine, about the size mentioned above, sprinting over a snow covered field. One of the most incredible attributes of the wolverine is that they are so light on their feet, this particular animal was photographed in a dead sprint but left no prints to follow in a snow covered field.

I always look for the license plate and in MI the plate says The Great Lake State. However, OK's plate says Oklahoma is OK, using a play on the abbrev of the state,but most know it as the Boomer State. Another nickname for Mi is the water wonderland, for the obvious reasons.

This is Michigan FERGODSAKES.

Someone might have to verify but I believe the territory now known as the Upper Peninsula was "given" to Michigan as a consolation for the US handing Toledo over to the silly little state to our south. I'd say we won that deal.