Philadelphia Culture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Kelly Drive was not named after Grace Kelly, it was named after her brother.

My late wife, Kelly, and I were were driving our kids to the tennis lessons in what used to be Arthur Ashe and now is called Legacy. Off the I-76, Kelly Drive exit... I always thought it's named for her.

To the OP, tell them that you are Steelers fan... no, on the other thought, don't...

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with 9:51 and 10:53, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Even the bougiest philly person loves Wawa and lets their philly flag fly when the Iggles won the Super Bowl.

+1. I certainly did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from north Wilmington and my parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods (they always called it Philly, not sure why that is a no-no).
As noted above, wooder=water and quooder=quarter. There is also a weird long “o” in home or throne (or just the word Oh) - not sure how to type it, but it’s like “heooome”. We drop words. For instance, “I’m done my soup” is perfectly acceptable, whereas uptight DMV types insist on extra words I.e. “I’m done with my soup.” All of my relatives are far more direct than people typically are in the DMV. I get told a lot that I am “very genuine” - by which I suspect people here mean rude or blunt.

Tastykakes are the best! Wawa is the best!

both of which are readily available elsewhere.

Nope. I'm in Arlington. Closest Wawa is downtown DC or way out in Vienna. It's not the same as having them all over the place where you can pop in all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's an interesting city. We lived there briefly and my grandfather grew up in Philadelphia so we had cousins there as well, although everyone seems to have moved away by this point.

My observation of Philadelphia is that it's a city time passed. It hit its prime circa 1900, remained one of the great American cities into the 1950s, and ever since then it's faded into a rather overlooked, often forgotten city in a quiet part of the country (despite the location on the Bos-Was corridor), living primarily off past glories. As a consequence, it's fairly static and filled with the old social-cultural dynamics of the past. It seemed like everyone we met in our time in Philadelphia was from Philadelphia or the surrounding region, and already had entrenched social networks of family and friends and very few outsiders. And there are rigid social barriers between the different subcultural groups. The WASPS of Chestnut Hill and the Mainline live a world unto themselves, the South Philadelphia Italians also live a world unto themselves. There's a big working class Irish heritage presence as well. Even the "newcomers" seem to join the city's scene by repeating the same dynamics. The Vietnamese in South Philadelphia, the Russians and Latinos in the far Northeast. A lot of working class pride that was ridiculous at times but there's also tremendous cultural resources and quiet and aloof gentry pride too. Philadelphia is *old* in ways you don't even see in New York, which is nearly as old.

Center City is delightful and there are great neighborhoods with stunning architecture. My grandfather grew up in one of the big stone houses on the border between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill and we used to cycle around Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy and Germantown, marveling at the great architecture, and as a child I remember visiting cousins who had restored a house in Society Hill, another fabulous area. There's also enormous stretches of deprived neighborhood too, including some sad once lovely neighborhoods with big old houses going to ruin.

All in all, it's a great city to live in, but it's also hard for someone from the outside to move in and find friends.

My family has deep roots in Philadelphia - more than 150 years since arrival from Ireland and England - and I spent a lot of time there and OCNJ. I absolutely love Philly for everything that Washington is not - it's working class vibe, the old buildings, the food, Fairmount Park. I would even move there. It's a place I would choose to live rather than have to love b/c my job is there. I still have two cousins and an uncle there - Center City, Ambler and Lansdale. Sadly, all else have died or moved away.

+1

It's a "real" city with a ton of character. I still have a ton of family there. And go to OCNJ every summer.

[Anonymous]

Temple is a great university in a dangerous part of the city, unfortunately. Students who attend Temple (27,000+) love it. I am from DC and not Philadelphia but have a kid at Temple who is having a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from north Wilmington and my parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods (they always called it Philly, not sure why that is a no-no).
As noted above, wooder=water and quooder=quarter. There is also a weird long “o” in home or throne (or just the word Oh) - not sure how to type it, but it’s like “heooome”. We drop words. For instance, “I’m done my soup” is perfectly acceptable, whereas uptight DMV types insist on extra words I.e. “I’m done with my soup.” All of my relatives are far more direct than people typically are in the DMV. I get told a lot that I am “very genuine” - by which I suspect people here mean rude or blunt.

Tastykakes are the best! Wawa is the best!

Ha ha, this is the first post that rings true without being terribly rude or classist.

I live here. I don't love it. I don't hate it, either. It grows on you. VERY parochial -- most people who live here now grew up here. A lot of people identify you or stereotype you by a.) where you went to high school and/or b.) "your parish." It used to be extremely Catholic, less so now, so people really are judged by the parish in their neighborhood.

That being said, it's pretty in some parts, amazing history, good food scene. Much lower cost of living. You can have a nice life here. But some of the things other people said are true. It is dirty and a little weird, LOL.

Wilmington, DE is like this, too. I find it fascinating.

[Anonymous]

There is a joke about everyone spending as much to rent a Jersey shore house for a week, and you would pay to go to Hawaii.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a joke about everyone spending as much to rent a Jersey shore house for a week, and you would pay to go to Hawaii.

LOL. It's no joke.

It's crazy expensive for what it is, but we still go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it very hard to tell of people are mad at each other or just having a friendly conversation. Philly people pride themselves on being blunt but to me it often sounds like someone is just being super nasty and rude.

This strange Philadelphian way of communication is extra stressful if you are communicating via zoom bc it’s like “what is happening…are they mad at me? Did I insult them somehow?” While the philly person is happy, unperturbed on the inside thinking like “yeah I’m keepin it real up in this jawn, should I wear my eagles jersey to get my hoagie at the fancy Wawa or will that jinx the game this Sunday?”

I can tell you that not every Philly person talks like this, for example I grew up in Chestnut Hill and we could speak properly thank you very much! We all aren't Rocky.

Even the bougiest philly person loves Wawa and lets their philly flag fly when the Iggles won the Super Bowl.

100%
I grew up in Philadelphia. My mom did not, and no way in the world were her kids going to saw jawn and wooder in normal conversation - she was adament we spoke "correctly"
But oh boy... give me a wawa pretzel any day, and I'm a happy girl. And the first word my kids could spell was E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!

100%. Grew up in Philly as well and this is my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from north Wilmington and my parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods (they always called it Philly, not sure why that is a no-no).
As noted above, wooder=water and quooder=quarter. There is also a weird long “o” in home or throne (or just the word Oh) - not sure how to type it, but it’s like “heooome”. We drop words. For instance, “I’m done my soup” is perfectly acceptable, whereas uptight DMV types insist on extra words I.e. “I’m done with my soup.” All of my relatives are far more direct than people typically are in the DMV. I get told a lot that I am “very genuine” - by which I suspect people here mean rude or blunt.

Tastykakes are the best! Wawa is the best!

Ha ha, this is the first post that rings true without being terribly rude or classist.

I live here. I don't love it. I don't hate it, either. It grows on you. VERY parochial -- most people who live here now grew up here. A lot of people identify you or stereotype you by a.) where you went to high school and/or b.) "your parish." It used to be extremely Catholic, less so now, so people really are judged by the parish in their neighborhood.

That being said, it's pretty in some parts, amazing history, good food scene. Much lower cost of living. You can have a nice life here. But some of the things other people said are true. It is dirty and a little weird, LOL.

Wilmington, DE is like this, too. I find it fascinating.

This made me laugh because it is true.

There are a lot of Irish-Italian families, giving rise to names like Roisin Rizzoli and Lorenzo O'Callagan.

[Anonymous]

I replied early but born and bred Philly here with tons of Philly roots.

The Jason Kelce speech where he's dressed as a Mummer, loosing his voice and yelling about hungry dogs run faster and the city of Philly is a hungry dog, an underdog? That's the essence of Philly right there.

https://youtu.be/rqLp4XdVk80

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's an interesting city. We lived there briefly and my grandfather grew up in Philadelphia so we had cousins there as well, although everyone seems to have moved away by this point.

My observation of Philadelphia is that it's a city time passed. It hit its prime circa 1900, remained one of the great American cities into the 1950s, and ever since then it's faded into a rather overlooked, often forgotten city in a quiet part of the country (despite the location on the Bos-Was corridor), living primarily off past glories. As a consequence, it's fairly static and filled with the old social-cultural dynamics of the past. It seemed like everyone we met in our time in Philadelphia was from Philadelphia or the surrounding region, and already had entrenched social networks of family and friends and very few outsiders. And there are rigid social barriers between the different subcultural groups. The WASPS of Chestnut Hill and the Mainline live a world unto themselves, the South Philadelphia Italians also live a world unto themselves. There's a big working class Irish heritage presence as well. Even the "newcomers" seem to join the city's scene by repeating the same dynamics. The Vietnamese in South Philadelphia, the Russians and Latinos in the far Northeast. A lot of working class pride that was ridiculous at times but there's also tremendous cultural resources and quiet and aloof gentry pride too. Philadelphia is *old* in ways you don't even see in New York, which is nearly as old.

Center City is delightful and there are great neighborhoods with stunning architecture. My grandfather grew up in one of the big stone houses on the border between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill and we used to cycle around Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy and Germantown, marveling at the great architecture, and as a child I remember visiting cousins who had restored a house in Society Hill, another fabulous area. There's also enormous stretches of deprived neighborhood too, including some sad once lovely neighborhoods with big old houses going to ruin.

All in all, it's a great city to live in, but it's also hard for someone from the outside to move in and find friends.

My family has deep roots in Philadelphia - more than 150 years since arrival from Ireland and England - and I spent a lot of time there and OCNJ. I absolutely love Philly for everything that Washington is not - it's working class vibe, the old buildings, the food, Fairmount Park. I would even move there. It's a place I would choose to live rather than have to love b/c my job is there. I still have two cousins and an uncle there - Center City, Ambler and Lansdale. Sadly, all else have died or moved away.

+1

It's a "real" city with a ton of character. I still have a ton of family there. And go to OCNJ every summer.

Sadly, my uncle sold his OCNJ property two years ago. It was the last family-owned property on the island, which is now becoming gentrified. It was a nice family place for summer vacations. We would spend the whole month of August there. I have pictures of my great-grandparents and grandparents before my father was born at the house in OCNJ. I have nothing but very good memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from north Wilmington and my parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods (they always called it Philly, not sure why that is a no-no).
As noted above, wooder=water and quooder=quarter. There is also a weird long “o” in home or throne (or just the word Oh) - not sure how to type it, but it’s like “heooome”. We drop words. For instance, “I’m done my soup” is perfectly acceptable, whereas uptight DMV types insist on extra words I.e. “I’m done with my soup.” All of my relatives are far more direct than people typically are in the DMV. I get told a lot that I am “very genuine” - by which I suspect people here mean rude or blunt.

Tastykakes are the best! Wawa is the best!

both of which are readily available elsewhere.

Nope. I'm in Arlington. Closest Wawa is downtown DC or way out in Vienna. It's not the same as having them all over the place where you can pop in all the time.

Seems pretty close to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from north Wilmington and my parents grew up in blue collar Philly neighborhoods (they always called it Philly, not sure why that is a no-no).
As noted above, wooder=water and quooder=quarter. There is also a weird long “o” in home or throne (or just the word Oh) - not sure how to type it, but it’s like “heooome”. We drop words. For instance, “I’m done my soup” is perfectly acceptable, whereas uptight DMV types insist on extra words I.e. “I’m done with my soup.” All of my relatives are far more direct than people typically are in the DMV. I get told a lot that I am “very genuine” - by which I suspect people here mean rude or blunt.

Tastykakes are the best! Wawa is the best!

both of which are readily available elsewhere.

Nope. I'm in Arlington. Closest Wawa is downtown DC or way out in Vienna. It's not the same as having them all over the place where you can pop in all the time.

Seems pretty close to me.

DP. Well it's not, LOL. In the philly area there's at least one in every town, if not more.