PS&L Blog

The giant wave of kids “fwooshing” back to school made me think of some Philly-isms. I grew up and have always lived in the Philly area. We say “went down the shore.” or “up the mountains.” – not “down to,” or “up to.” We say “wudder” for water.

As a counselor talking to a prospective student or members of their family there are two easy ways to bond with the people you are talking with. Listen for and mimic their phrases or openly acknowledge the difference to start a deeper conversation.

Here are some other regional “isms”: Yunz from Pittsburgh, youse from Philly, and for those who don’t know they are the plural of you, or if you are from the South the same as “yawl.”  European English speaking people “go to the seaside.” Who drinks “pop?” I drink “soda?”

Dialect isn’t just words. In 1972 traveling through the South, Alabama or Georgia – I ordered a ham & cheese sandwich, instead of getting what I expected, ham & cheese together between two pieces of bread I got 2 different sandwiches, one ham the other cheese. Why they gave me both mustard and ketchup I don’t know.

As competition heats up in higher education marketing revel and celebrate the differences you find.

If you can think of more dialect, send a note to CB and we’ll share all the differences in a blog post next week.