My sister sent me an email about living in Pennsylvania.
So, to lighten up this post and give you all a well-deserved smile (as Julian would like)...here it is!
Let me know if you have any questions...I will clear up any confusion in one of my next posts.
About Pennsylvanians:
You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything
but "Philly" and New Jersey has always been "Jersey"
You refer to Pennsylvania as "PA" (pronounced
Pee-ay).
How many other states do that?
"You guys" is a perfectly acceptable reference to
a group of men and women
You know how to respond to the question
"Djeetyet?"(Did you eat yet?)
You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre,
Schuylkill, the Pocono's, Tamaqua, Tunkannock, Bala
Cynwyd, Duquesne and Monongahela.
And we know Lancaster is pronounced Lank aster,
not Lan kaster.
You know what a "Mummer" is, and are disappointed
if you can't catch at least highlights of the parade.
You know what "Punxsutawney Phil" is, and what it
means if he sees his shadow.
The first day of buck and the first day of
doe season are school holidays.
At least five people on your block have electric
"candles" in all or most of their windows all year long.
You know what a "State Store" is, and your
out-of-state friends find it incredulous that you
can't purchase liquor at the mini-mart.
Words like "hoagie," "crick," "chipped ham," "dippy eggs",
"sticky buns," "shoo-fly pie," "lemon sponge pie", "pierogies"
and "pocketbook" actually mean something to you.
That's PA slang for purse!
You can eat cold pizza (even for breakfast) and know
others who do the same. Those from NY find this "barbaric."
You not only have heard of Birch Beer,
but you know it comes in several colors.
You know the difference between a cheese steak and
a pizza steak sandwich, and know that you can't get a really
good one outside PA,
except Atlantic City on the boardwalk.
You live for summer, when street and county fairs
signal the beginning
of funnel cake season.
You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Paradise, Climax,Bird-in-Hand, Beaver, Moon, Virginville, Mars, and Slippery Rock are PA towns.
(and the first three were consecutive stops on the Reading RR).
You know what a township, borough, and commonwealth is.
You can identify drivers from New York, New Jersey, Maryland
or other neighboring states by their unique and irritating driving habits.
A traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a horse-drawn
carriage on the highway in Lancaster County .
You know several people who have hit deer more than once.
You carry jumper cables in your car and your female passengers
know how to use them.
Driving is always better in winter because the
potholes are filled with snow.
As a kid you built snow forts and leaf piles that were
taller than you were.
You know beer doesn't grow in a garden
but you know where to find a beer garden.
You also know someone who lives "down the lane".
You actually understand all this and send it on
to other Pennsylvanians for former Pennsylvanians!
YEAH! THAT'S "PA" AND WE LOVE IT
(side note: SPell-checker went FRIPPIN' NUTS with this post and all the PA-things! haha)
See the end of my last post to light a candle for Julian. This started last night and he has 383 candles lit from 13 countries! He TRULY has touched the WORLD!!
9 comments:
Fabulous job of bringing a smile to my face and warm thoughts to this sad old heart! Many thanks Michelle!
Thanks for the laugh Kemper! I needed it. Here's a few more for you.... we have our own grand canyon; we can spell Schuylkill River; Apple Dumplin's; we know how to make real chicken pot pie; we end a sentence with "once"; we know where Geno's and Pat's Steaks are; we know who JoePa is and that Happy Valley isn't a place where hippies smoke pot; and most of all if you aren't an Eagle or Steeler fan you can go jump off a cliff! We both love the OBX, but there is no place like PA!!!! Love it.
AMEN SwatCop !! ;-) E-A-G-L-E-S!!
I've always said, too - "You know you're from the Philly area if you know what 'On the 2's' means!"
(Or maybe thats just me...growing up with a Dad that needed to listen to the traffic on 1060 often!)
I knew some of those, and I'm not even from PA (Pee-ay)Thanks for the laugh.
I'm from MI, and we have some similarities to PA - what a fun read...
In OUR house, if Punxatawney Phil sees his shadow, my husband and The Jib both get 6 more weeks of birthday!!! LOL
So sorry to hear about Julian! I will continue to keep his family in my prayers....what a brave little boy they have! I am sure he is happy in his new home with God!
Hi, we had the same Miracle dilemma here 2 years ago... Our minister and dear friend was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the same week I found out we were expecting nr 4. The doctors gave him 3 months TOP. We prayed and prayed and prayed... And he was with us another 18(!) months, and baptized our little boy (like he had our 3 other kids). We couldn't keep him alive and with us, but it was a miracle indeed that he got to 'finish' off things that were so important to him. The Lord works in mysterious ways, His ways are just not always OUR ways...
Look for our friend in Heaven, JuJu, he is a great man and you will love hanging out with him: both FREE of cancer!!
Matthew told Corey at church - and Corey told me about Julian on the way home (or else I would have hugged ya big in church). Both he and I were pretty upset - but had a very similiar conversation you had with your kids.
First time visitor...
I saw this list a while ago...ironically, I was a "Mummer Two-streeter" during my high school dayz....imagine that.
We said "youse guys" and I didn't even realize I said it until I got to college and had to mingle with outta-staters.
We've been here 20 years and I'm still waiting for a WaWa, which is conspicuously absent from that list.
I read your column in the TCR and finally migrated my way to your blog. Kudos.
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