Living the Life I’ve Imagined

Since I’ve been here, people have pointed out to me all the weird words/phrases that apparently only people from around Philly and South Jersey use.  So I’ve decided to compile a list of these things that people from Philly and South Jersey say and translate them into “English” so people from the rest of the country can understand what we mean and don’t stare at us like we’re insane.

I’ll also explain why certain things are best when from the Philly area. I know almost all areas have certain things like this, but I thought this would be a fun blog to write. Also, some of these things I don’t personally say, but I know what it all means just the same. You guys can use this as a guide to the area when you come visit!

1. New Jersey is always called “Jersey”, specifically “North Jersey” or “South Jersey”.  No “New” needed. Also, it is pronounced JER-ZEE not JOY-ZEE. 😛 (Seriously, don’t say it, it’ll make us hate you.)
2. Philadelphia is referred to as just “Philly” and Pennsylvania is “PA” pronounced PEE-AY.
3. “A whole nother” is a phrase meaning “completely different” or “another thing.” (Example: “That’s a whole nother story.”)
4. Most sentences are started with “Yo!” and ended with “yah know?” (yah know?)
5. When we want to know what you’re doing, we’ll ask you with a quick “Wassup?” or “Waddup?”
6. “Youse” or “Youse guys” means “you guys” and is commonly used after “Yo!” and “Wassup?”
7. When we are going to the Jersey beaches, we say we are going “down the shore” and when we go home we go “up home.” (Even though the shore is generally to the east and home is generally to the west.)
8. “Jeet (yet)?” is a question meaning “Did you eat (yet)?” (The response is usually a Yes/No and a “jew?” meaning “did you?”)
9. What we call a “hoagie” is commonly known as a “sub.” (What the heck is a sub? Are you eating a boat?)
10. What the rest of the country calls “Italian ice” or “slush” we call “water ice” but we pronounce water like “wooder” or “whadder” (You’ll say how can it be water and ice? Well, does Italian ice make any more sense? )
11. We put “jimmies” on our ice cream, not “sprinkles.”
12. A “MAC Machine” is what you call ATM. And saying you are going to “Tap MAC” means you need to get money from the ATM. (We do use ATM sometimes though.)
13. Seriously, does no one else call the candy Reese’s Pieces “Ree-sees Pee-sees”??
14. “Jawn” is a word used as a replacement for whatever word you need, a filler word usually meaning “stuff” or “crap.” (Example: “What’s that jawn?”)
15. Sometimes we will refer to our bags as pocketbooks pronounced “pock-a-books.”
16. We say “commeer” when we mean “come here” and “gimme” when we mean “give me.”
17. We often put “gravy” on our pasta.  No, not the brown stuff, we mean tomato sauce.
18. Some other mispronunciations: When we say “arr-anj” we mean orange; when we say “rad-ee-a-tor” we mean radiator; a “crick” is also known as a creek; a “beggel” is a bagel; when we say “lecktric” we mean electric.
19. The “iggles” are the Eagles, our football team, who are more commonly called “the birds”.
20. Our baseball team, The World Champion Phillies, is called any of the following: Phils, Phightin’s, Phightin’ Phils, Fightin’ Phils.
21. Our hockey team, The Flyers,  is called “The Orange (Arr-anj) and Black”; “The Fly Guys”; “The (Broad Street) Bullies”.
22. Our basketball team, The 76ers, is more commonly just “the Sixers.”
23. Some people think we say long O’s weird in words like home or phone. But I’ve only heard this a few times.
24. We also call our soft drinks either soda or coke, it’s not pop, cola, tonic or anything else.
25. When we are walking on the side of the road, we are walking on the “pavement” not the “sidewalk.”
26. The “Atlantic” part of Atlantic City is usually pronounced either “lanic” or “alanic.” Also, the town of Reading is pronounced like “Redding.”
27. When we are taking “The El” we mean the Septa Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated Line.
28. The Speedline is the PATCO High Speed Line that runs from Philly to South Jersey.
29. If we say “ga head” or “gaw head” it means “go ahead.”
30. When we want to draw a picture prouncned “pitcher” we will use our crayons pronounced “crowns.”

Now there are some foods that are only good when from the Philly/ South Jersey area and they are rarely good when found elsewhere. I gave a few places where you can get the best food so if you ever come visit, you’ll be eating Philly’s best.

1. Philly Cheesesteak – “Wit” or “Wit out” onions, the best cheesesteaks are found at Geno’s, Pat’s, Tony Luke’s, Campo’s, John’s, Jim’s or actually most places in the city. **To order, you say how many you want, the type of cheese (Cheese Whiz, American, Provolone) and whether you want onions (with or without). Example: “One whiz without.” Have your money ready when you get to the window, don’t be taking your good old time!!
2. Philly Soft Pretzels – made only the best in Philly can be found at the Philly Soft Pretzel Factory or any street vendor, haha.
3. Water Ice is best when from Rita’s Water Ice and on the first day of spring it’s free!
4. Tastykakes are various small cakes and krimpets, and are usually found in a Wawa. http://www.tastykake.com/
5. A Wawa is  not just a convenience store. They have the best hoagies (Summer = Hoagiefest), they have the best milkshakes and the best Iced Tea, among the other awesome things they have there, like gas!
6. If you need a place to eat check out Chickie’s and Pete’s and be sure to try the crab fries! http://www.chickiesandpetes.com/
7. Other food not commonly found anywhere else in the country: Shoo-fly pie (a molasses pie), sticky-buns (rolled up dough with cinnamon and sweet icing) and Birch Beer (similar in taste to root beer).

If you have anything else that you think I should add, any questions or if I think of anything else, I’ll add them to the list. Goodnight!