The Origin of The Michigan “S”

If you've ever bought a car from Ford's, or groceries from Meijer's, you might be from Michigan—and you might not understand why you keep adding an s. We don't either.

Luckily, Michigan Radio did a little research. We may think this is a Michigan thing, but that's not the case: the addition of the posessive 's' can be found in a variety of states, and not just the midwest either. New York, Missouri, and West Virginia, for example.

Michiganders may have gotten this from the Ford Motor Company—when somebody worked at the factory, owned by Henry Ford, they may refer to it as "Ford's."

Ford doesn't take the crown for starting the trend, however, because stores like J.C. Penney have held the posessive 's' for the last century. Ever shopped at Penney's?

One other suggestion is that the plethora of stores intentionally adding the 's' (Trader Joe's, McDonald's, Wendy's, to name a few) cause us to add it in places that it doesn't necessarily belong. One thing is for certain though—whether it belongs or not, we somehow manage to tack it on anyway.