Detroit '72
AQUA03 - No. 35
A quick way to know that the coffee has boiled over is when things go Detroit ’72. To say that things are or have gone Detroit ’72, or even just ’72, is to say that the worst-case scenario has happened. Often Detroit ’72 is used more as a warning that things can go wrong, not that they necessarily have yet. It is often used as a shorthand to express oncoming danger or peril that could result in death or worse.
For example, one could say: “We need to clear our schedules should things go ’72 on us.” Meaning, “We need to be ready for the possibility of an employee dying or worse.”
Another example post danger could be: “Things went Detroit on us back there.” Meaning, “Someone just died or worse.”
Things going Detroit ’72 is not the same as putting on the Neons or Closing the Cafe. Instead of a tangible reaction to a threat, things going Detroit ’72 often are in a hypothetical or existential sense. At any time, anywhere, things can go Detroit ’72, but that isn’t a good reason to always have the Neons on or the Cafe closed.
History
The term Detroit ’72 was coined by the original Owner of the Cafe and Diner. It is a very personal term to him, as his parents died at the hands of Miss. Cadillac in, you guessed it, Detroit, Michigan, in 1972. This event would spark an interest and obsession with the Otherside and the Coffee Trade for the Owner. It is also part of what shaped his unending optimism in life because, to him, nothing can be worse than what happened in 1972 Detroit.
Alternate Forms
1972, ’72, Detroit, Detroit 1972