People who say Philadelphia is more like Jersey than it is like the rest of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh: fit in, bankrupt)

[austin2359]

I don't know much about Jersey, but is their argument at all legitimate?

It seems to me that people in Philadelphia have the regular Pennsylvania accent (not the New York influenced Jersey accent) but metro Philadelphia of course is more dense.

[DarkWolf]

LOL , no way is it even close and the cultures are different. Philly is more laided back then most of NJ. Whats a Pennsylvania accent? Metro Philly is slightly more dense then Tri-state area and it will get even more dense over the next few decades. However NJ is very dense , by people per SQ mile we rank # in North America. The Density in both states is centered around Railway or old Trolley Corridors and extends 2 miles from each small and large city.

[2e1m5a]

Politically I would say Philadelphia and New York have much more in common with New Jersey than their respective states and have always said that Jersey would be a beast of a state if Philly and New York switched over. But there are many things about Philly culturally and tradition wise that have it fit in nicely with the rest of Pennsylvania. There is no "Pennsylvania accent" by the way. The Philly accent is heard in PA and NJ. There are places like Lehigh Valley which are very close to Philly but have a slightly different accent.

[WVUPharm2007]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Whats a Pennsylvania accent?

Nobody ever thinks they have one, but y'all do. I frequently hear things from people from this area that just sound funny. Words like water and hot dog come to mind. There are others, I just can't think of them right now off the top of my head...but a distinct Philly accent definitely exists.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by WVUPharm2007

Nobody ever thinks they have one, but y'all do. I frequently hear things from people from this area that just sound funny. Words like water and hot dog come to mind. There are others, I just can't think of them right now off the top of my head...but a distinct Philly accent definitely exists.

PA is a BIG state, and Philly is on it's far southeastern tip.
People on the western side don't have Philly accents. They also do things like say "pop" instead of "soda". I think Philly has more in common with most of NJ than, say, Crawford county.

[Pine to Vine]

I find Philly has more similarities to NJ than PA for the following reasons:
1) Pace - Sandwiched between NY and Philly, NJ over all is a pretty fast-paced state. Heading west and north of Chester County, the pace of PA slows much more so than that of NJ. I find Philly mirrors the pace of NJ much more so than the pace of the bulk of PA.
2) Topography - Like most of NJ, Philly is flat. Contrast that with PA. Driving around NJ, I don't notice the change in topography like I do heading out towards KoP. This difference only increases traveling west and north deeper into PA.
3) Geography: Philly is the only part of PA located in Bos-Wash. All of NJ is.
4) Politics - NJ votes pretty consistently Democratic. Aside from Philly and Pittsburgh, PA not so much.

[Boompa]

Without Philly it's Pennsyltucky

[toobusytoday]

And when people say "Jersey" they are often thinking of Northern New Jersey. Southern and coastal New Jersey is not a bit like the areas around New York City or Philadelphia. I think it's just human nature to want things/places to be categorized. The more I travel, the more I appreciate the differences in areas.

[cpomp]

The reason some people say that is because philadelphia is very different than the rest of the state. People out in central and western PA, basically those who live in the middle of nowhere think that philadelphia is wasteland and that all of the states money is going toward the city, and that the suburbs of philly are filled with snobby people who act like people from new jersey, more so north jersey. Of course the part about philly being a wasteland isnt true, but the suburbs, sort of true. Anyways my view on this is, if you were to take southeastern pa, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Buck, and Philadelphia counties and put them in new jersey, Pennsylvania would be a very poor state and would be bankrupt. The philly region is pennsylvania IMO. Yes you have pittsburgh, but that wouldnt be enough to save the rest of the state.

[bryson662001]

How many of us even know what Pennsylvania is like? I don't meet many people in Philly who have ever been west of King of Prussia.