You can take the filly outta Philly...
I was born just outside (of) Philadelphia, moved to Virginia when I was 9, then went back to the Philadelphia area for college before moving to Baltimore at 23. I never knew how much the City of Brotherly Love had infested my speech until a few days ago.I wrote a line of dialogue in my manuscript where one character asked another
Are you done your chores yet?Two readers marked it as a typo ("you forgot the word with"), but a third pegged it as a Philadephia-ism. She mentioned that her students would say, "I'm done my homework" instead of "I'm done with my homework," or "I've done my homework."
While I knew that it wasn't grammatically correct, I never thought of "done my chores" as a regional idiom. I thought everyone said it. "I'm done with my chores" sounds awkward and pretentious. Why waste all that time with an extra word?
"Jeet yet?"
"Naw, I'm still hungry."
22 Comments:
Posted by:
Sharon GR at 9/19/2005 10:53 AM
Jim Young
Posted by:
Anonymous at 9/19/2005 12:10 PM
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/19/2005 1:12 PM
Being from more the NY area I never, ever could understand "water ice" though. Italian ice makes sense - it's descriptive of the type of ice it is, but WATER ice? I'm baffled. It'll always be Italian ice for me...
--*Rob
Posted by:
Rob at 9/19/2005 1:19 PM
But yeah, "water ice," that's just goofy. As oppposed to the popular refreshing dessert, "nitrogen ice"?
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/19/2005 1:34 PM
Sout Filly Cecilia
Posted by:
Anonymous at 9/19/2005 1:43 PM
Posted by:
Rob S. at 9/19/2005 1:58 PM
Well, at least we can all agree that carbonated beverages are called soda, not pop.
Posted by:
Andrew at 9/19/2005 2:23 PM
--*Rob
Posted by:
Rob at 9/19/2005 3:45 PM
Posted by:
Rob S. at 9/19/2005 4:38 PM
Personally, I'm willing to allow the "turkey sub." But "grinder" is way out of the question.
Whoever said blogs couldn't engender deep philosophical discussions?
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/19/2005 5:30 PM
South Filly Cecilia
Posted by:
Anonymous at 9/19/2005 9:41 PM
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/20/2005 7:34 AM
Pastrami on any hoagie? Never. I always thought pastrami was beef - a cousin to corned beef. At least, in my Jewish family I'm sure it was.
Now I'm craving a kosher deli tongue sandwich. Damn.
--*Rob
Posted by:
Rob at 9/20/2005 9:16 AM
I still haven't heard the answer on what makes a hoagie a hoagie--the roll or the contents. Turkey hoagie or turkey sub, people?
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/20/2005 9:57 AM
And nope I wouldn't peg a single thing as a Philly-ism, since I grew up a stone's throw from NYC. Well, two stones throw. Basically, north Jersey looks at south Jersey as a different animal. Philly is a different country.
Water ice? That is just plain bizarre.
And we refer to the sandwiches as "subs."
Sorry.
Don't eat scrapple or drink Snapple.
Terri (who does not pronounce the last vowel in provolone, or capicola as is done in the southern Italian dialect aka south of Roma.)
Posted by:
moonhart at 9/20/2005 10:21 AM
Sount Filly Cecilia
Posted by:
Anonymous at 9/20/2005 11:46 AM
Posted by:
Jeri at 9/20/2005 12:28 PM
Posted by:
Rob at 9/20/2005 2:56 PM
Posted by:
PapaGoose at 9/21/2005 3:52 PM
;)
So says Terri alum of Rutgers Newark (though we pornounce it NORK)
LOL!
And Cecelia is right. It's gotta have oregano. Tomato salad needs oregano, too.
Oh, and Jerseyites don't go to the beach. New Yorkers do that. We go to the "shore."
;)
Terri
Posted by:
moonhart at 9/21/2005 4:28 PM
Posted by:
Mark at 9/23/2005 6:05 AM
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