How to speak like a Philadelphian

With my job I have the added benefit of seeing all types of places across this great country of ours.  Every part has its own culture with some very specific traits.  This includes cuisine, mood, speech and look.  Philadelphia and its surrounding areas are no different.

Once of the things I never realized until I traveled a lot is how we speak.  I never in my life felt like I had any type of accent or that I used altered words of any kind.  I mean,  each year I travel to England…now THEY HAVE AN ACCENT.  I sat and thought for a moment about some of these words that I am now very aware of and wanted to share them with you quickly.  You have seen some in memes I’m sure.  I know that this list doesn’t even scratch the surface so feel free to add your own words in the comments below and we will start a great conversation.   Let’s see how many T’s we can replace with D’s!

PHILLY SPEAK: 

• Wooder- This is that clear liquid we drink to stay alive everyday.  Also the first word that I realized made me “from Philly” .  This can also be used for “Wooder Ice”
• Slice Uh Plain– This is a slice of pizza with cheese.
• Hoagie–  Many places call this a sub which is just silly.
• Neck store neighbor –  aka “Next Door Neighbor”
• MAC Machine – I’m not sure why we never converted over to the newly accepted term of ATM but we didn’t.  When we need money we “tap MAC”
• Jimmys–  Many know these as “sprinkles” , those sometimes multi colored things that are great on ice cream and cupcakes.
• Crowns- I know what you’re thinking… this is the thing that goes on a king or queens head right?  Nope, we are literally trying to say Crayons.
• Reshtront– The place you go eat or maybe grab a Slice Uh Plain.
• Senner Sity – we just like to leave T’s out.  This is Center City.
• Libberdy Bell–  Liberty Bell
• Courter-  We have a tough time with Q’s as well.  This is a Quarter.
• Caw-fee– Coffee

and the word that can be just about any other word we feel like making it… JAWN.  What does “JAWN” mean?  I have no idea however I can use it in a couple of sentences for you:

“Did you pickup that jawn earlier?”

“You see the color of that jawn?”

“That new jawn is so hot”

“Hand me the jawn so I can call this jawn up and ask about the jawn “

What are your favorite Philly words?  Comment below!

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Chris Stalker

Training & Development Director by day; Daddy, Husband and web junkie by night. For years I have benefited by creating many things including : Web Sites, Logos, illustrations, online training courses , writings and much more.