Essential English phrases

Detroit, by nickname and by its original area code. The 313 is used as an identity marker the way the 305 is in Miami — it means the city proper, not the suburbs.

A corner shop selling beer, wine, lottery tickets, cigarettes and groceries. Nothing to do with balloons.

The string of blue-collar suburbs running south along the Detroit River — Wyandotte, Lincoln Park, Trenton, Southgate. A distinct identity, not just a direction.

A fizzy soft drink. Ordering 'a soda' marks you as from elsewhere within about four words.

A Coney Island — a diner serving chilli dogs, eggs and Greek salad at all hours. American and Lafayette sit next door to each other downtown and the rivalry between them is a genuine civic institution.

A Detroit ginger ale from 1866, aged in oak. Drunk warm for an upset stomach, or poured over vanilla ice cream as a Boston cooler — which is named after a Detroit street, not the city in Massachusetts.

Instead of turning left across traffic, you drive past the junction, U-turn through a median crossover, and come back. Standard on divided roads statewide, and it catches every single newcomer.

Eight Mile Road, the northern city limit, and one of the sharpest municipal and economic boundaries in the country. The mile roads number outward from downtown, so people navigate by them.

Michiganders give directions by holding up their right hand palm out — the Lower Peninsula is a mitten and you point at where you mean. Everyone does it and nobody finds it strange.

The northern Lower Peninsula and beyond. From Friday afternoon in summer a large share of the metro heads there, which is why northbound I-75 seizes up.

General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Their shift patterns, plant schedules and contract negotiations move restaurant traffic, school calendars and the regional economy.

The city's reporting app and the normal route for potholes, illegal dumping, dead streetlights and water issues. 911 remains for emergencies only.