I grew up outside of Philadelphia. I know you are all thinking, “Oh, so you live two hours from the city.” No. I live 20 minutes from the city according to Google Maps. From personal experience I know it can take up to 45 minutes, if not longer, to get to Center City depending on traffic. If that’s not enough evidence for you I can walk to a Septa train station from my house in five minutes. My local news is broad-casted from Philly and my town had a victory parade when the Phillies won the World Series. Philly is a part of who I am. My mom was born and raised in the city, and so were her parents. I’ve heard countless stories of the city in its glory days before my family migrated to the suburbs. There are a lot of millennials today who have a similar story to that. Their parents moved from Philly,out to the suburbs leaving them with the curse of explaining to people that, “I live outside Philadelphia…no seriously…I do.” So this is for anyone who has ever been told they don’t live where they live
1. Wooder!
If you don’t say it then at least one member of your family does. I got it from my mom and I have friends that don’t say it, but the rest of their family does. I speak from the first hand, people really have an issue with “wooder”. As clarification for those who aren’t from the area, “wooder” is the Philly way of saying water. It’s also everyone’s favorite thing to point out about accents. The thing is it isn’t just Philadelphia. It’s common in South Jersey and Central Jersey. If you do say water the Philadelphian way you have grown up being asked to repeat it, being laughed at, and being corrected. If you are someone who criticizes those who say “wooder”, or any part of our accent, please stop. It’s just a part of who we are and we are never going to change it because you can’t understand it.
2. Sports Teams
They won? That’s great. Win again. If you are a fan of a Philly team this is most likely your mantra. Doesn’t matter what team or what game, if they won, as happy as you may be, the important thing is to win again. Point in case, when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 every fan was happy. By the next day there was a general consensus that we felt they needed to win again in 2009. Now if you aren’t like that, you are a break in the mold. I’ve had professors call me out on wearing a Phillies shirt in class and make a point of our fair weather fandom. It is universally known that we aren’t the best sports fan…if you aren’t from Philly or outside Philly. If you are then you know how local diners and hot spots will play the games or employees will be wearing Eagles green for every game. You see how your local grocery store has soda boxes stacked up to model the Flyers’ emblem. Most importantly, you know how every local channel will play nothing but the game that is on that night because everyone is watching that game or keeping an eye on the score. While we may be very demanding as fans, we love our teams and we would never love any other team…especially not the Cowboys.
3. Cheesesteaks
Have you ever ordered a cheesesteak somewhere other than your quaint suburban hometown? If you haven’t please heed this advice: DO NOT DO IT! Here’s the thing, just-outside-Philly cheesesteaks are influenced by inside-Philly cheesesteaks. So while they may not be identical to what you would get in the city, you’re still going to get a soft roll, greasy meat and overflowing American cheese topped with a healthy line of ketchup. Just writing about is making me hungry. Growing up outside Philadelphia with a mom who was from Philly meant we found the best pizza place in the area. Part of being the best was having a cheesesteak that was "Mom Approved". That’s the case in the suburbs. Most parents grew up in the city so they know what a cheesesteak is supposed to be and they aren’t going to settle for a slab of meat on a ciabatta bun and some kind of fancy cheese. That is not a cheesesteak. I may seem insane for dedicating an entire paragraph to cheesesteaks but, trust me, it’s a big deal.
4. Day Trips...No More Day Trips
I have seen the Liberty Bell, I’ve talked to Ben Franklin before visiting Betsy Ross, I can walk through the Natural Science Museum with my eyes closed, and I don’t think of Rocky when I see the art museum. Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia meant going into the city wasn’t a big trip. It was a day trip. A day trip that required minimum planning. All we needed to know was what train to get on at what time, what places we went to, and what time we had to be back on the train. As a kid I took more field trips to the Natural Science Museum than I have fingers to count on, and I’ve visited mostly every other museum in the city courtesy of my parents. The Liberty Bell, as iconic and beautiful as it is, does not enchant me enough to stand in line for two hours. I would rather walk to find Ben and Betsy and chat with them. It is something I always say, the city of Philadelphia is amazing for countless reasons, and being the home of American Liberty is undeniably the number one reason. But, when you grow up with the Constitution Center and Betsy Ross House and Valley Forge in your backyard, it just becomes a part of the world you are living in. So if you want to go to Philly with someone who grew up outside of Philly, please, try to find something we haven’t seen, then we can do the Liberty Bell.
5. News
Violence. I mean honestly. If you grew up outside Philly that is what your news was. A long list of death, and injury, and attacks would run for an hour three times a day. It wasn’t all bad. Sometimes the daily television would be interrupted by Breaking News that was just a slow-speed car chase up the turnpike. I’m in no way trying to make light of it, but I am saying that we’ve mostly become numb to it. As a young child, and up until I was 17 or 18, I was terrified of the city. I wouldn’t want to go downtown with my friends to see a museum because I was horrified thanks to what I saw on the news. Flash forward to college and now I live alone in a city that has a healthy amount of crime. I’m not scared to go out and I don’t fear for my life because I know where not to go. Philly is the same way. It gets a bad rep because if you do not live directly in the city you won’t know about the good things that are happening or the perks of living in a city. Now that I’m older, my best friend and I always consider a trip to the city for the day when we make plans. I’m happily looking for internships there and I respect the city for more than what the media wants me to know about. I feel as though most of the kids, now teens and adults, who grew up outside of Philadelphia understand that sentiment. We respect the city that helped shaped the cultures of the towns we were raised in. When someone insults the city because they were in a bad area we get defensive because they’re just feeding into what the media wants people to believe about it.
All of my comrades of outside Philly, I salute you. You’ve been ridiculed for a very unique accent yet you’ve stood by it with pride. You know the struggles of finding a good cheesesteak or winning more than one hockey game in a row. You’ve seen the walls of every tourist attraction and have braved the city dubbed so dangerous, and look at you now. You are you because of the world you grew up in and you should be proud. I know I’m proud to say I grew up outside of Philadelphia no matter what people have to say.
