The Philadelphia Accent: A Tribute
I want to be clear that this is in no way meant to be an informative research paper or a professional thesis re: linguistics and what they have to do with the Philadelphia accent. Much research has already been done on the subject with more skill than I am likely able to provide. Any research done on my part was mostly accidental and a result of my having grown up in New Jersey and then moving to the Philadelphia area around age 18. The facts presented are pulled from memory and are employed more to share my own thoughts and feelings than to prove a point. In other words, this is just a tribute.¹
In an effort to defend why a particular city’s accent deserves a tribute at all I would like to talk about the recognizability of that accent. My first experiences with Philadelphia’s own were subtle and made me consider if what I was hearing really was in fact an accent; if I was just being overly sensitive to word pronunciation; or if the people with whom I chose to surround myself in college were just weird. The answer is probably a combination of all three, but over the years I’ve found that others from New Jersey and perhaps many other regions are similarly confused about the subject. I clearly remember when my close friend since middle school met my born-and-raised Delaware County³ boyfriend and said to him, “You have an accent,” but she couldn’t figure out what it was or even pinpoint exactly what made his pronunciations sound different from her own. This indistinctiveness is, annoyingly and perhaps overwhelmingly clichéd, what I think makes the Philly accent so distinct.
The subtleties of Philadelphia’s dialect are famously difficult to mimic as beautifully displayed in a Saturday Night Live skit⁴ that features two made up (but most likely inspired by real) women from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. Tina Fey is a graduate of Upper Darby High School⁵ and is pretty much spot on with her native land’s goofy imitation, but Jimmy Fallon clearly struggles until he eventually appears to give up and resort to his trademark giggles and several charmingly overdone repetitions of the word “hoagie.” At least he tried, unlike some actors as witnessed in the film Silver Linings Playbook, which was set and filmed right outside of Philly and yet not one of the actors attempts to sound like a true resident of the area. Even Bradley Cooper who is probably one of the most famous and beloved Eagles fans in the city doesn’t give any vocal indication of his origins.⁶ We see a similar occurrence in the TV series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia when perhaps the only mention of the title city’s accent is when the characters fail miserably to impersonate it.⁷
But I don’t think it’s fair to judge anyone who shies away from attempting to emulate a perfect Philadelphia delivery. Pretty much every attempt I have ever made to imitate my boyfriend’s speech has resulted in a mildly funny but terrible impersonation at best, and a borderline offensive Jamaican affectation at worst. It wasn’t until my boyfriend heard me say “trash” for the first time that I was able to explicitly describe one of the more obvious differences in our pronunciations. I usually hear people in the Philly area draw out the a in trash so that it almost makes a long a sound, like trahsh, whereas I have a tendency to really emphasize the hard a into tre-ash. Either way, hearing me say a word so differently sparked a never ending string of mockery at the expense of yours truly that drove me into such a state of self-consciousness that I began replacing the word with “garbage,” for which I now receive even more grief.
The best description I can probably give for one of Philly’s more distinctive speech attributes is the pronunciation of words like “phone” and “home” with a super rounded o sound that I have painfully and repeatedly tried to spell but can’t seem to figure out.⁸ With that idea in mind it is almost too perfect that one of the city’s most defining physical properties is its labyrinth of rowhomes, a name for attached residences that just sounds absolutely adorable in the area’s voice à la rooh-hooms. You would know it if you heard it and for me it is impossible to unhear.
I’m also fairly certain that, three years into being a Philly resident, my thoughts are now expressed in my head with an award-winning “hoagie mouth” performance,⁹ but for some reason my actual speaking voice does not betray the false Philadelphian within and instead sounds more like New Jersey with an obnoxious twang. I have, however, noticed that my also Jersey-born friend who moved to Philly a few years before me now pronounces certain words in the way of his new home, though I haven’t mentioned it to him yet for fear of disrupting the natural process of his gradual change in speech. I want him to develop a thick accent and I want myself to learn the accent as well. For some reason I’ve grown incredibly fond of hearing the Philadelphia voice even as its lifelong speakers continuously make fun of it or even try to hide it. Local celebrity Casey Foster of the Preston & Steve Show¹⁰ has actually been known to subdue his Delco accent to a certain degree, perhaps to better fit in with his show-mates. He doesn’t seem to be fooling anyone and I can remember a recent incident in which Casey came very close to saying “coaster” with that flagship o but then corrected himself to say the word with a plain old oh sound, but not without one of his coworkers immediately calling him out on it.
As the Philadelphia dialect continues to perplex and motivate people to mock, stifle, or completely ignore its sound, the funniest part is that most outsiders can’t even properly describe what they’re hearing and must rely on the Philadelphians themselves for anything close to an adequate representation. Let the record show that any attempt to ridicule Philly’s accent has already been done, with more humor and better accuracy, by the creators themselves and it’s unlikely that any painfully off-pitch impersonation exists that hasn’t already been heard too many times. Even if you bring up the common stereotype of saying “Iggles” instead of “Eagles,” the self-deprecating people of Philadelphia will probably laugh both with and at you as you butcher their beloved dialect. Just make sure that whatever you say about the Iggles is something good.
¹ Tribute² to Tenacious D’s song titled Tribute intentional.
² Repeated use of the word “tribute” also intentional.
³ Delaware County is located right outside of Philly and is often referred to as Delco. The Philly accent is perhaps most recognizable in this region. Here’s the Wiki page for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_County,_Pennsylvania
⁴ A clip can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxXaEh1eEwc
⁵ Upper Darby, like Delco, is right next to Philly and its high school is huge.
⁶ Pretty sure every Philadelphia resident has since forgiven him.
⁷ A short clip from the show displaying the distorted accent attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HKv6EaUy8E
⁸ Even my boyfriend was perplexed when I asked how him how he would spell it.
⁹ The first time I heard the term “hoagie mouth” was in relation to a podcast called The Rights to Ricky Sanchez which is (mostly) about the Philadelphia 76ers, although the term may be used elsewhere. Here’s a link to the podcast’s website: http://spikeeskin.libsyn.com/
¹⁰ The Preston & Steve show is a well-known Philly area morning radio talk show. The show’s podcast can be heard on WMMR’s website: https://wmmr.com/shows/preston-and-steve/
In an effort to defend why a particular city’s accent deserves a tribute at all I would like to talk about the recognizability of that accent. My first experiences with Philadelphia’s own were subtle and made me consider if what I was hearing really was in fact an accent; if I was just being overly sensitive to word pronunciation; or if the people with whom I chose to surround myself in college were just weird. The answer is probably a combination of all three, but over the years I’ve found that others from New Jersey and perhaps many other regions are similarly confused about the subject. I clearly remember when my close friend since middle school met my born-and-raised Delaware County³ boyfriend and said to him, “You have an accent,” but she couldn’t figure out what it was or even pinpoint exactly what made his pronunciations sound different from her own. This indistinctiveness is, annoyingly and perhaps overwhelmingly clichéd, what I think makes the Philly accent so distinct.
The subtleties of Philadelphia’s dialect are famously difficult to mimic as beautifully displayed in a Saturday Night Live skit⁴ that features two made up (but most likely inspired by real) women from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. Tina Fey is a graduate of Upper Darby High School⁵ and is pretty much spot on with her native land’s goofy imitation, but Jimmy Fallon clearly struggles until he eventually appears to give up and resort to his trademark giggles and several charmingly overdone repetitions of the word “hoagie.” At least he tried, unlike some actors as witnessed in the film Silver Linings Playbook, which was set and filmed right outside of Philly and yet not one of the actors attempts to sound like a true resident of the area. Even Bradley Cooper who is probably one of the most famous and beloved Eagles fans in the city doesn’t give any vocal indication of his origins.⁶ We see a similar occurrence in the TV series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia when perhaps the only mention of the title city’s accent is when the characters fail miserably to impersonate it.⁷
But I don’t think it’s fair to judge anyone who shies away from attempting to emulate a perfect Philadelphia delivery. Pretty much every attempt I have ever made to imitate my boyfriend’s speech has resulted in a mildly funny but terrible impersonation at best, and a borderline offensive Jamaican affectation at worst. It wasn’t until my boyfriend heard me say “trash” for the first time that I was able to explicitly describe one of the more obvious differences in our pronunciations. I usually hear people in the Philly area draw out the a in trash so that it almost makes a long a sound, like trahsh, whereas I have a tendency to really emphasize the hard a into tre-ash. Either way, hearing me say a word so differently sparked a never ending string of mockery at the expense of yours truly that drove me into such a state of self-consciousness that I began replacing the word with “garbage,” for which I now receive even more grief.
The best description I can probably give for one of Philly’s more distinctive speech attributes is the pronunciation of words like “phone” and “home” with a super rounded o sound that I have painfully and repeatedly tried to spell but can’t seem to figure out.⁸ With that idea in mind it is almost too perfect that one of the city’s most defining physical properties is its labyrinth of rowhomes, a name for attached residences that just sounds absolutely adorable in the area’s voice à la rooh-hooms. You would know it if you heard it and for me it is impossible to unhear.
I’m also fairly certain that, three years into being a Philly resident, my thoughts are now expressed in my head with an award-winning “hoagie mouth” performance,⁹ but for some reason my actual speaking voice does not betray the false Philadelphian within and instead sounds more like New Jersey with an obnoxious twang. I have, however, noticed that my also Jersey-born friend who moved to Philly a few years before me now pronounces certain words in the way of his new home, though I haven’t mentioned it to him yet for fear of disrupting the natural process of his gradual change in speech. I want him to develop a thick accent and I want myself to learn the accent as well. For some reason I’ve grown incredibly fond of hearing the Philadelphia voice even as its lifelong speakers continuously make fun of it or even try to hide it. Local celebrity Casey Foster of the Preston & Steve Show¹⁰ has actually been known to subdue his Delco accent to a certain degree, perhaps to better fit in with his show-mates. He doesn’t seem to be fooling anyone and I can remember a recent incident in which Casey came very close to saying “coaster” with that flagship o but then corrected himself to say the word with a plain old oh sound, but not without one of his coworkers immediately calling him out on it.
As the Philadelphia dialect continues to perplex and motivate people to mock, stifle, or completely ignore its sound, the funniest part is that most outsiders can’t even properly describe what they’re hearing and must rely on the Philadelphians themselves for anything close to an adequate representation. Let the record show that any attempt to ridicule Philly’s accent has already been done, with more humor and better accuracy, by the creators themselves and it’s unlikely that any painfully off-pitch impersonation exists that hasn’t already been heard too many times. Even if you bring up the common stereotype of saying “Iggles” instead of “Eagles,” the self-deprecating people of Philadelphia will probably laugh both with and at you as you butcher their beloved dialect. Just make sure that whatever you say about the Iggles is something good.
¹ Tribute² to Tenacious D’s song titled Tribute intentional.
² Repeated use of the word “tribute” also intentional.
³ Delaware County is located right outside of Philly and is often referred to as Delco. The Philly accent is perhaps most recognizable in this region. Here’s the Wiki page for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_County,_Pennsylvania
⁴ A clip can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxXaEh1eEwc
⁵ Upper Darby, like Delco, is right next to Philly and its high school is huge.
⁶ Pretty sure every Philadelphia resident has since forgiven him.
⁷ A short clip from the show displaying the distorted accent attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HKv6EaUy8E
⁸ Even my boyfriend was perplexed when I asked how him how he would spell it.
⁹ The first time I heard the term “hoagie mouth” was in relation to a podcast called The Rights to Ricky Sanchez which is (mostly) about the Philadelphia 76ers, although the term may be used elsewhere. Here’s a link to the podcast’s website: http://spikeeskin.libsyn.com/
¹⁰ The Preston & Steve show is a well-known Philly area morning radio talk show. The show’s podcast can be heard on WMMR’s website: https://wmmr.com/shows/preston-and-steve/
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