question about the philly accent (Chester, West Chester: fit in, house, move)

[MoorestownResident]

Originally Posted by Sassygirl18

Jim Cramer ("Mad Money") has a serious Philly accent. (He's a little angry in this clip)

YouTube - MARKET MELTDOWN

Chris Matthews also has a strong Philly accent

YouTube - Chris Matthews Hardball: Questioning 'phony outrage' over lipstick (Part 1)



That's NORTH Jersey. South Jersey people don't talk that way...we have more of a Philly accent.

Yeah, I think you're right. Excellent rant and rave!

[ajb842]

I think those of us who live in Philly find it more difficult to detect because it's just the way we talk. People have visited me and told me I say certain things differently, or I visit them and realize that I don't say things the same way. I personally cannot listen to someone speak and then tell whethere they are from Philly. Boston and NY have an accent I can detect, but Philly I don't think I could do that. However, we do certainly have our own way of saying things!

[Sassygirl18]

Jim Cramer's Philly accent is so strong that everytime I would see him on t.v. I would think he must be from Philly. So I looked him up on the internet and sure enough, he's from Wyndmoor.

I have a personal story to share about the Philly/NJ accent.

We were vacationing in Key West. At a restaurant, we made some some chit chat with our waitress. She said, "do you happen to live anywhere near Haddon Heights, NJ?" (Haddon Heights is about 5 miles from our house). She told us she has a friend from Haddon Heights and she recognized the accent.

It's funny...I can hear the accent very clearly, even though I am from this area.

Another person who has a very strong Philly accent is Frank Rizzo, Jr. OMG, it's so strong it's cringeworthy.

[Lori1604]

Say this phrase out loud:

"Can I have a can of Pepsi?"

Chances are, you're from Philadelphia or its outlying areas if you pronounce the first "can" as "Caaahn" and the second as "caen."

Philadelphians are the one of the few groups of people who do this, completely changing the pronunciation of the same word when used differently.

ETA: Most places in the U.S. speak with what's referred to as the phonemic merger. IOW, they pronounce caught/cot or marry/Mary/merry the same, whereas we pronounce them differently.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by Lori1604

Say this phrase out loud:

"Can I have a can of Pepsi?"

Chances are, you're from Philadelphia or its outlying areas if you pronounce the first "can" as "Caaahn" and the second as "caen."

Philadelphians are the one of the few groups of people who do this, completely changing the pronunciation of the same word when used differently.

ETA: Most places in the U.S. speak with what's referred to as the phonemic merger. IOW, they pronounce caught/cot or marry/Mary/merry the same, whereas we pronounce them differently.

I think it really depends on where in the city you live and/or what ethnic group you belong to. In South Philly I hear very very few people pronounce marry and Mary the same but I do hear a few people say "Mary Christmas" ( . . . so irritating). There are also too distinct ways of pronouncing the "a" in "family" too.

[orrmobl]

So that's why I would get so annoyed at Penn State hearing people say this guys Mario's name - who the heck is mar-io anyway?

[NJ Chutzpah]

ok I see

after hearing matthews, and cramer speak

Philly accent has more screech to it, not in a bad way

after trying to imitate it, it seems that you tighten your throat a little, and use the tongue less than NNJ/NYC

It also has less bass, and less flow than NNJ/NYC

[Pilot1]

Both Dom Giordano and Michael Smerconish on WPHT radio have Philly accents. Dom's is more South Philly while Michael's is more Philly burbs.

[DITC]

Jim Cramer definitely has a heavy PA accent

Originally Posted by MoorestownResident

Jim Cramer doesn't have an accent but he worked in NYC for a long time. Truth is, someone in NC came up to me one day and asked if I was from the Philly area because of my accent. So there's got to be something to it.

[NJ Chutzpah]

I have listened to Cramer, and never thought it was considered an accent

but if you guys say so