How do you say water in Philly?

The word water is commonly pronounced /ˈwʊtər/ (with the first syllable rhyming with the word put, so that it sounds like "wooter" or "wooder"), rather than the more standard English /ˈwɔtər/. This is considered by many to be the defining characteristic of a Philadelphia dialect, even among young Philadelphians.

What are some Philly slang words?

What does Boul mean in Philly?

But words that haven't been branded get all sorts of spellings. Philadelphia has no shortage of residents who insist that the way they spell “boul” — a Philly word for "boy" — is the only way that's true.

Is it pronounced water or wooder?

Is it heard elsewhere? A: In areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania that are part of the Delaware Valley region—particularly in Philadelphia—the word “water” often sounds like wooder or wooter (the first vowel is pronounced as in “put”).

What does Bub mean in Philly?

A young brother; a little boy; a familiar term of address for a small boy.

Philly accent one of the world's most studied dialects

What is jawn slang for?

What does jawn mean? Jawn is Philadelphia slang for anything … literally anything. Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. Like this definition, an informative jawn.

Is there a Philly accent?

The Philadelphia accent has got quite the reputation. The New York Times called it “arguably the most distinctive, and least imitable, accent in North America.” A 2013 University of Pennsylvania study analyzed the shifts of the accent; the eldest of the voices were born more than 100 years ago.

How do people from Philly talk?

The Philadelphia accent today is “rhotic” or r-pronouncing. There are some instances of non-rhoticity possibly found in South Philadelphia. But generally, all r's are pronounced.

How do Philadelphians talk?

The Philadelphia Accent

Philly Accent: Water is wooder. Many words start with st- get more of a sht- treatment, so street sounds like shtreet. The pronoun “our” sounds like are, and “orange” gets the same sound at its start—are-ange.

Why does Philly say jawn?

Simply answered, jawn is a stand-in for, but not limited to, objects, places, people, and events. Jawn can mean nothing and everything. It's similar to the word 'thing' in use but carries more local flair.

Do they say jawn in Philly?

Jawn is a slang term that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific name. It is local to Philadelphia and the broader Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Jawn is a context-dependent substitute noun; a noun that substitutes for other nouns. Jawn can be singular or plural.

Do Philly people say jawn?

Philadelphians also tend to drop hard consonants like t and g off the ends of their words, and so jawn was born. Philly's usage of jawn has become even broader and more all-encompassing than New York's joint, which has established connotations referring to either a place (like a club) or marijuana.

How do Philadelphians say hello?

1. Yo. Yes, “yo” is said just about everywhere in the country, but it's almost exclusively how we say “hello” in Philly. The greeting of “yo” can vary in meaning, though, depending on intonation.

What words do Philly people say weird?

Does Philly say hoagie or sub?

“Hoagie.” The red parts “Sub.” More precisely, according to Katz, 73.2% of Philadelphians use the term when describing a “long sandwich.” The rest? Clearly not from here.

Is Philly mostly Italian?

By 2010, the U.S. Census identified the Philadelphia metropolitan region as home to the second-largest Italian-American population in the United States with about 3,100 Italian immigrants living in the city and more than 142,000 residents identifying as having Italian ancestry.

What is a person from Philly called?

Philadelphian is most commonly used to describe someone who is from (or a resident of) the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Philadelphian" may also refer to: Old Philadelphians, members of the First Families of Philadelphia considered part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment.

How do Philly people say coffee?

The familiar Philly-ism “wooder” also might be drying up. “That sound is moving toward 'ah,' so instead of 'cawfee,' more Philadelphians are saying 'coffee,' 'wooder' becomes 'water,' ” Labov said. “As people become aware . . . they tend to reverse them.

Do people in Philly say youse?

“Youse” is associated with working-class white folks in South Philly, but “y'all” is the grammatical alternative to “you guys” in the dialect of Philly's African American communities.

What's considered the bottom in Philly?

Rather, “The Bottom” was occupied by Blacks in the late 1800s when they came to Philadelphia from the time William Penn imported slaves in 1685. The area was known as Greenville. It became known as “The Bottom” as it was the bottom part of West Philadelphia.

Is Philadelphia Very Irish?

Philadelphia has a high percentage of Irish Americans, making up 14.2% of the population. Due to the change of the city's demographics, most of Philadelphia's Irish population are now in the suburbs.

Is Yo a Philly word?

Yo /ˈjoʊ/ is a slang interjection, commonly associated with North American English. It was popularized by the Italian-American community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1940s.

What does it mean to YEET?

What to Know. Yeet is a slang word that functions broadly with the meaning “to throw,” but is especially used to emphasize forcefulness and a lack of concern for the thing being thrown. (You don't yeet something if you're worried that it might break.)