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Out of all the cities with "accents", Philadelphia's accent is one of the most prevalent and noticeable ones along with other northeastern accents. I think the midwestern accents (with an exception to the Minnesota and other upper Midwestern accents) such as the "Chicago accent" is overblown and not prevalent. Most Chicagoans sound like general americans to me.
The only Philadelphia Accent I know of is among Blacks. Most other Philadelphians either sound like New Yorkers or just regular North Easterners.
The only Philadelphia Accent I know of is among Blacks. Most other Philadelphians either sound like New Yorkers or just regular North Easterners.
The more you are around them, white Philadelphians, the more you notice it's slightly different. NYers also know the gradations between Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens, which all blend together to me. The New Englanders also can fine tune the area from which a person hails, again, a mystery to me.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Originally Posted by Chicago60614
The funny thing is it mostly just exists as a stereotype these days. There are a few neighborhoods on the south/southeast side and a few suburbs in that same area where you can hear it every once in awhile, but for the most part it's been washed out over the years and is gone.
I moved here and was all like "where's the Chicago accent I always hear??" People just laughed and said "on TV".
I'm also surprised at how many people put blue collar. That's certainly something from the past that must have really held on in people's minds. There's still manufacturing in areas of the metro and city, but overall now it's a very solid service/white collar economy. The current breakdown from looking online is around 82% white collar/service, and 18% manufacturing and blue collar.
Uh...no. My ENTIRE family has that accent, and some more than others. Granted, they ARE Polish & Italian and ARE very blue-collar/poor with blue-collar jobs. So maybe that's the demographic -- the blue collar people.
In general, I find the "heart and soul" of a city's people in the factories and small shops of those cities. If you want to hear the quentessential accent, for instance, just go to the local factory. At least, this is my experience.
In general, I find the "heart and soul" of a city's people in the factories and small shops of those cities. If you want to hear the quentessential accent, for instance, just go to the local factory. At least, this is my experience.
They always say if you want to take a pulse of a city, talk to the taxi drivers. I think that applied when "salt of the earth" Americans drove cabs. Nowadays, the ride would be more silent because of the language or accent barrier.
New York: LOUD, crass, arrogant to the Nth degree, and they will always remind you that everything is better in NY, which is funny, since so many of them live in Florida, the Carolinas, and Atlanta these days.
Los Angeles: Hollywood, plastic people, diversities of all types (racial, political, ethnic, religious, etc.)
San Francisco: Fog, white liberal hypocrisy on the grandest of scales, arrogance ("The City" WTF?)
Chicago: Big buildings, crime gone wild, cold weather, segregation, racism
DC: Politicians, power, and the AIDS virus (not joking...it has the most people with HIV/AIDS from a percentage standpoint of any city in the United States)
Last edited by Squeaky2012; 03-26-2012 at 11:35 AM..
i love how hated dc is lol. everybody hates it but everybody must see it.
That's because visitors rarely ever see actual DC. While that's true for a lot of cities, it's particularly true for the District. How many tourists have ever really strayed off the Mall apart from a small section of Downtown and Georgetown? Not many. Bring them to U Street, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Shaw et al and it's a very different picture. Their image is entirely museums and federal workers, so the half locals don't really think about after a while (well, unless they work in government).
The more you are around them, white Philadelphians, the more you notice it's slightly different. NYers also know the gradations between Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens, which all blend together to me. The New Englanders also can fine tune the area from which a person hails, again, a mystery to me.
It may be being from the area but there are certain aspects to the accent that can even help tell which part of the city someone is from; I can spot a Far Northest Philly accent a mile away.
South, Northeast, Far Northeast. To me even Delco will sound different from Bucks etc.
The same for Jersey and into NYC (though my ability to distinguish NYC is very small; am pretty good up to North Jersey)
To me Philadelphia absolutely sounds nothing like a NYC accent and a North Jersey vs South Jersey sounds nothing alike. Philly is closer to Baltimore than it is to NYC IMHO in terms of accent. I think I have a very mild accent and am shocked that on the phone many people from outside the area think I have a NYC accent; dont think anyone from Philly or NYC would accuse me of that honesty
I just don't see how you can not come up with stereotypes for one of the world's most known cities as all.
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