“What’s good girl” vs. “Hey girl hey”

Growing up and listening to how everyone around me spoke was always very interesting to me. I love to listen to different peoples tones of  voices and the way they say certain words. I like to say that “Philadelphia is a melting pot of all different types of people.” People all over this city are different and say things differently than the way I may. I do not judge the different ways in which people speak, I actually find it very appealing. I love how the “South Philly accents” sound as they talk.

When I was in middle school, I used to call it “Little Italy,” because south philly is known for its large population of Italian-American families. It seems like whenever they say certain words they add an extra “aw” in the middle. For example if an Italian-American from South Philly says the word because, they are actually saying it as  “becaawse!” Another thing I picked up on from the Italian Americans in my neighborhood was that they will make up, that they truly believe are correct! It gets passed down from the generations and they pick up the way the people around them and speaking and start using  words like yous, which everyone else would just say as you guys or yall. Listening to this has always been very appealing to me. I have no idea why, but I love to hear them talk.

Going to Girard Academic Music Program, I spent a lot of my time around a lot of Italian American dialect, specific to South Philadelphia. Starting off in 5th grade I really did not understand what was going on. Being new to a school would sometimes make me feel like I was obligated to be friends with everyone. I would quite often code switch my dialogue to mimic how all the Italian-Americans spoke. I would sometimes add an extra “aw” in between my words to make it sound like I was one of them. I remember in the 5th grade I sat next to a young Italian American girl named Melissa Pantalone. I wanted to have friends so badly I tried to speak like them.

“Hey guys what are yous tawlking about?” I would say.

But in reality I would normally great my friends with “What are y’all talking about?” Because of these experiences I understand Italian-American dialect better that most people that never grew up around it. It bothers me when people comment on how they speak because everyone is allowed to be different. Going to G.A.M.P has made me more understanding to how Italian -Americans speak.

In some ways people in Philly use some of the same language, or the same pronunciations of certain words. For example, in Philadelphia a lot of people say “wooder” unlike every other region in the US that says just “water.” It is so hard not to say “water” like “wooder” because I have been living in the heart of Philadelphia my entire life. It seems like in Philly we make everything have a long “a”. When I speak I can’t help but to pronounce certain in the “Philly way”. Living in Philadelphia we use a lot of slang. I find it very tempting  to use a lot of it in my everyday speech. I love saying the word “jawn” or phrases like “you gonna ride”. I feel like we are just talking about absolutely nothing. We say a lot of phrases and words that a lot of people would not understand like “ocky,” “poppin,” “trizzy” “old head,” and “young bull.” Surprising me, a lot of what Philadelphians say, is not known throughout the country.

Always living in Philadelphia, it is very difficult for me to understand that people do not speak as we do everywhere. Some slang that we use is spoken throughout the nation. In America we tend to say the word “like” at the end of every sentence we use. For example everyone may say. “That is cute so, like.” I hear this everywhere and not just in Philadelphia. There are some things that we collectively use as a country as slang.

When I am around certain people I code switch my dialogue. I may be talking to different people about the same thing but it may sound different. For example if I am with My friend Greta our conversation way go like this.

“Hey girl” Greta may say.

“Hey girl heyy” I may say say.

“OMG her hair is literally disgusting.”

“Yess girl she needs to not”

The same conversation may be between my friend Gabby and I may go like this.

“JOIE” Gabby may say.

“Yesss girl” I may say.

“Tell me why that girl’s hair looked a mess this morning.”

“Where was her head at this morning?, She played herself.”

I am practically having the same conversation but with different people. It is weird how I do this. I don’t mean to change how I speak to different people. It seems like I change the tone of my voice when I am around certain people. Greta is a white American and lives outside of Philadelphia. Greta’s parents grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which has influenced her to speak “white.”Because of who her parents are and their life experiences, it causes her to  speak the way she does. Greta uses standard english, but to others this is “Philadelphian standard English.” Gabby is African American with Jamaican descent. Her father grew in Kingston, Jamaica. They use similar dialect there that they use in Philadelphia.  Her mother is Philadelphia. This results in her using a lot of slang in her day to day dialect.

Philadelphia has a very diverse population, which can result in all different types of slang. They may use different dialect in Southwest Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, but we all still essentially live in the same city. This is something that is unexplainable. People always adapted to where they lived and created language to support their surroundings. My experiences have lead me to the ability to process the endless Philadelphian dialects around me.  



Work Cited:

"South Philly 'Tawk'" South Philly 'Tawk' N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.dwaffleman.com/South%20Philly%20Tawk.htm> 

"Understanding Philly Slang." Examiner.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.<http://www.examiner.com/article/understanding-philly-slang>

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