What a Philly Accent Means To Me

Jamie Turner

Philly Accents

     A Philly accent is an accent you earn.  

I grew up in Philadelphia and have always been told how distinctive our accents are.  The rest of the world says “water” while we say “wooter”. We also say our “Os” from the back of our throat.  We have many other different accents on different letters and words but that is not the point.  My point is that in order to really have an accent you must earn it.

For some odd reason I have heard people I know don’t have a Philly accent try to fake one and it has really been annoying me lately.  

Recently I was at a family event with my mom’s side of the family.  One of my cousins started talking in a Philly/ Italian accent literally in the middle of a sentence.  Since I am close with my family I knew that my cousin had not just magically developed an accent.  But this story does go along side with my argument that People take pride in a Philadelphian accent.   My cousin obviously wanted to have a Philadelphian accent so people would notice that he has strong roots in Philadelphia.  I think it is quite strange that my cousin tried to do this but it is understandable.

You can’t just wake up one day and say “You know what, I want to have a philly accent this morning and maybe a New York accent a little later.  You either are born with a specific accent or you develop one from being in that area or around people with that accent for a long time.  In order to even say you have an accent you have to just say words how you would say and pronounce words however you feel comfortable saying them.

To earn an accent is to learn what is like to be from or represent your city, neighborhood, or country.  I think anyone who has developed any type of accent should be proud of it.  I think Philadelphia accents represent people who are hard workers.  People with a Philly accent come from city filled with places and things that helped make this country what it is today.  In my opinion I believe a lot of people imagine that growing up in the city is cooler or maybe people think you are a strong person because I know many suburban people think that Philadelphia is a horrible place where you can’t even get out of your car to get into your house.  Yes there are certain place in the city of Brotherly Love that some may feel uncomfortable walking around in the public and things of that nature, but there are neighborhoods like that all over the country.  Anyway having a noticeable characteristic that clearly shows that you have been living in the city makes mislead people from rural or suburban areas think you are tougher or maybe more mature in a sense because of growing up in the city.

Though I feel comfortable in my city some people may not and that could because of a Philadelphia accent.  Someone who is not familiar with the area could hear someone with a Philadelphian dialect speak and think “What a trashy accent.”  A lot of people nowadays have the tendency to judge others as soon as they see that person.  People hear or see something that they aren’t used to seeing or have never heard wherever they are from and automatically decide that they would not  want to associate themselves with those things.  I think that is really a shame because most if not all people I know who live in the city of Philadelphia love it.  There is a vast majority of different cultures, people, places to see. and many more likeable details.  I feel as though everybody or everything deserves a chance before it is shut down.  So to any people who have never been to Philadelphia or any other urban area for that matter, you should really give the people and the community a chance.

Now while I have been doing this project I have been wondering “Where and how was our accent developed?’  There is no way to tell how or when an accent was developed.  But I can tell you that from farther research Philadelphians have a similar accent to New York and places like Reading, Pa. Baltimore, Md. and Wilmington, De.  These dialects are referred to as “The Mid- Atlantic Dialect”.  It would only make sense that these places are very close to each other compared to other places in the country or even the world.  My theory is that European immigrants brought their home dialects to America and they got all mixed- matched together.  All of the place I listed are also on the East Coast.  Another thing to note about the East Coast is where the majority of our Country’s pioneers came from.  I think that also explains why there is no particular West Coast dialect or accent.  These accents were thrown into a melting pot and made into their own individual accent.  That is what makes them what they are today.