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Does the Internet Have a Philly Accent? Why Too Much Time Online Can Make You 'Culturally Philadelphian.' (inquirer.com) 83

Posted by msmash from the it's-always-sunny-in-philadelphia dept.
Philadelphia culture has become inescapable in certain corners of the internet. People who spend substantial time online report developing knowledge of the city's cultural touchstones and forming opinions about its regional debates despite minimal or no physical presence there, according to a new report. The phenomenon has prompted a theory: prolonged exposure to these digital spaces can make someone spiritually and culturally Philadelphian regardless of geography.

Several factors explain Philadelphia's outsized online presence. The city is large but retains a small-town sensibility. Its residents wake earlier than West Coast users and can set the daily online agenda. Philadelphia sports teams have performed well for twenty-five years. The internet rewards visual absurdity and energetic presentation. Gritty functions as both hockey mascot and anti-fascist meme. The city's working-class union identity and reliably anti-Trump stance align with leftist online communities. The alternative explanation is simpler: Philadelphians believe their city dominates conversation and find confirming evidence everywhere they look. The internet may not have made Philadelphia bigger. It may have just made Philadelphians easier to find.
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Does the Internet Have a Philly Accent? Why Too Much Time Online Can Make You 'Culturally Philadelphian.' More

Does the Internet Have a Philly Accent? Why Too Much Time Online Can Make You 'Culturally Philadelphian.'

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  • Setting new records (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:09PM (#65721632)

    This is the single dumbest thing I've read on slashdot in 20 years.

    • Re:Setting new records (Score:5, Funny)

      by dunkelfalke ( 91624 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:16PM (#65721664)

      I miss OMG ponies.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by skam240 ( 789197 )

      No kidding, who's seeing Philadelphia everywhere online? About the only time I ever even think of that city is when I'm watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and most of that show isn't even filmed in Philly.

      Nothing wrong with Philly of course, I just think this sounds like nonsense. Of course the cited article being behind a paywall doesn't help. Somehow I hit my free article limit with the inquirer despite never going to their website.

    • Re:Setting new records (Score:5, Funny)

      by nichogenius1 ( 9413819 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:23PM (#65721698)
      Spoken like a true Philadelphian

      • Argumentative, insulting, with an edge of "dafuq," but basically accurate and ready to laugh it off and maybe get a beer.

        Yup. Sounds like Philly.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Even by Slashdot's notoriously low standards, this is WHAT-THE-FUCKING-FUCK stupid.

    • Re:Setting new records (Score:5, Insightful)

      by korgitser ( 1809018 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:59PM (#65721790)

      An actual example of this played out on traditional media. Everyone in the world knows New Jersey sucks, because TV was dominated by New York, and they did not miss a chance of making their neighbour the butt of the joke. The bustling streets of NY are still one of the top contenders for anyone's first image of life in US.

      Philadelphia though... Most of TFA actually boils down to sports. And nobody outside the US gives a rats ass about US sports. So maybe the US internet has a Philly accent. But for the rest of the world, what is inescapable on the internet first is US defaultism, of which TFA seems to be a part of.

    • Duh. I live 15 miles west of Philly, fortunately way out in the suburbs - that used to be farmland .. :(

      It's nice the 'local' paper isn't bankrupt yet. But stories like this make me consider changing my mind.

      • How coincidental is it that, road-tripping through Pennsylvania currently, finding myself on William Penn highway, I just asked ChatGPT what William Penn might think of today's Pennsylvania?

        âoeWilliam Penn to the People of Pennsylvaniaâ (imagined address)

        Friends and Inhabitants of this Province,

        When first I sought a tract of wilderness to plant my holy experiment, it was not for gold, nor fame, nor power, but that men might live free in the fear of God and love of neighbour. I desired a commonweal

    • > This is the single dumbest thing I've read on slashdot in 20 years.

      Is Phrack Magazine [phrack.org] still considered SPAM on slashdot ?

    • This is the single dumbest thing I've read on slashdot in 20 years.

      Pull up a trough, because generative AI slop is going to be creating so many more you’ll be in heaven.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shmoe ( 17051 )

      Go drink a glass of wooder.

  • WTF? (Score:3)

    by Monkey-Man2000 ( 603495 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:10PM (#65721634)
    n/t

  • No, the internet doesn't have a "Philly" accent. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:11PM (#65721638)
    Whatever that means.

  • Weird subjective niche (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Cajun Hell ( 725246 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:12PM (#65721642) Homepage Journal

    I've been online for a while and have not noticed Philadelphia being singled out in any way. Everything in the article's "notorious cultural touchstones" is unknown to me. Not that I'm celebrating my ignorance, but I just haven't seen anyone discussing those particular topics.

    on the internet, Philly culture is inescapable

    From my point of view, on the internet Philly culture is just one of thousands, not particularly emphasized.

    I suspect the author has some connection to that city which has caused him to read about it more than average.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      Personally I feel that English generally gravitates towards a west coast accent thanks to Hollywood, but maybe I'm just still old and think most of the influence still comes from movies, shows, etc.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by skam240 ( 789197 )

        Personally I feel that English generally gravitates towards a west coast accent thanks to Hollywood...

        Now that is something that I feel that I've observed a little bit.

      • Regarding speech, I personally think it's a blend between Hollywood and colonialism. The Philly accent is an American one but it's partially influenced by post-RP pronunciation changes because of coastal proximity like a lot of New England accents. Most places around the world that speak English learn UK English but consume more American media in English than British. So they also would pick up a blend of accents and pronunciations.

    • Re:Weird subjective niche (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Slyfox696 ( 2432554 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:15PM (#65721658)

      I suspect the author has some connection to that city which has caused him to read about it more than average.

      You nailed it:

      I’m a features reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer. I was previously a reporter for “A More Perfect Union,” a yearlong project at the Inquirer examining racism in Philly’s founding institutions. Before that I worked at The Boston Globe as a metro reporter and at The New York Times as a researcher. My first job was as an investigative fellow at Rewire News, a national site focused on reproductive health. I grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Yale.

      Source: https://www.zoehgreenberg.com/ [zoehgreenberg.com]

      • Re:Weird subjective niche (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Malc ( 1751 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:24PM (#65721710)

        And probably used Google for her work, which sucked up all her data and now slants all its responses in the direction it thinks she's interested. Stop using Google products people. Use private browser windows/tabs and privacy respecting tools like DuckDuckGo.

        • And probably used Google for her work, which sucked up all her data and now slants all its responses in the direction it thinks she's interested. Stop using Google products people. Use private browser windows/tabs and privacy respecting tools like DuckDuckGo.

          But it’s cold outside my curated bubble.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      the "author" is a bot. AI. do not engage.

    • The author wrote this for The Philadelphia Inquirer... They live in Philadelphia. This is a fluff piece to make people in Philadelphia feel more culturally significant. That said, there's the whole Rocky Balboa thing and they sometimes win the super bowl.

  • Meanwhile, all podcasts are made in Los Angeles (which is why I know how to pronounce "Los Feliz"), and every novel is set in New York City.

    I had no idea Gritty was an anti-fascist meme.
    Just about the only thing I know about Philadelphia culture is that Phillies fans throw batteries.

    • If you hang around left wing spaces then yeah you will see gritty a lot. He's a big funny monster so it's funny to think of him fighting fascism.

      I'm not sure about the sports teams I had to look up the Philadelphia sports teams and none of them stood out to me as a non-sports guy. Meanwhile if I was asked to rattle off sports teams it would probably be the New York Mets and the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe the Giants.

      I think this is just a silly article written by a Philadelphia newspaper. Kind of harm

    • Los Angeles (which is why I know how to pronounce "Los Feliz")

      California, the place famous for mispronouncing all Spanish city/street names except for Rodeo Drive (which people are obsessive about specifically for some reason).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      As a European I have no idea who Gritty even IS, let alone what he stands for. I just recently learned that Pepe is apparently pro-Nazis which came as a surprise to me. You'd think the frog would symbolize France if anything.

  • Stupid thesis. (Score:3)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @12:15PM (#65721656)

    I know who Gritty is. I've seen every episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

    I know nothing significant about the city, any regional accent, or its culture. I don't know anyone who does beyond some sports fans who know the teams... and it's hardly the only city they know in that way. I don't recall the city even being mentioned on any of the other shows I watch, I don't see it in the news more often that other cities.

    If you're from there, good for you, I'm not putting you down... it's just a big world that has a lot more than Philadelphia in it.

  • And we will do it again. Fuck robots.

  • I donâ(TM)t know if the Internet feels like Philadelphia, but I will say it feels like Itâ(TM)s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Even this sounds like Charlie asking if Pittsburgh is part of Philadelphia.

  • Wut?

    I mean, I haven't been "on line" as much as some folks but I did start BBSing in 1981.

    I doubt I've seen any reference to Philidelphia until this /. post.

    Weird

  • I suppose the internet makes everyone from Philly as much as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's intro song.

  • it must be true and unbiased, right?

  • Not a Springsteen fan personally but the song is decent.

  • So here's the deal with philly, from a self-styled native:

    -Hipster-doofus paradise between Front St to maybe low 40-something street between Girard Ave down to a little below South St. Likely the source of TFA.

    -Bombed out no-go zone west of 45th and north of Girard.

    -Bland suburb/working class zone in the Northeast.

    -Catholic and Italian south of South

    -Another hipster district in the northwest.

    -Suburbs ranging from Portlandia to Trump country just over the city limits, depending on where.

    Oh yeah and the whole

  • ... an East Coast thing. Out here in the West, our Democrats slavishly follow California.

  • I prefer my internet to talk like a hyped up car salesman that sells Fords on a local 30 second radio spot (this guy's something else...). The passionate delivery makes it interesting but always viewing it with skepticism.
  • Wandering across the Internet, you can really feel it.
  • Philadelphia? Hardly. What I have noticed though, after using quite a bit of Tiktok is that I have learned much more about Singapore than I thought I would (as a European living in Europe). From its founding, the role of Lee Kuan Yew, the ethnic makeup, housing policy, etc., I think that's something that social media really has promoted much more than anything else.

  • A Philly newspaper writes that the Internet has a Philly accent? They think Philly sports teams have actually done well? And how exactly is Philly leftist? Have these people ever been to South Philly?

    This is one of the stupidest things I've read on this website.

  • is your mother, and honestly, those pictures were disturbing.

  • But why this (extremely dumb) one does ends up in Slashdot ?

    • Because slashdotters are not immune to the lure of clickbait. Look at how fast thia comment's section has grown. There isn't a nerd on this morning that could resist adding his two cents.

      • https://xkcd.com/386/ [xkcd.com]

        There was advice years ago that if you wanted an answer on QA sites, you should ask the question with one account, then give a wrong answer with a second one... because people usually don't care enough to help, but they WILL post to say that the first answer is wrong.

        • That joke is a running gag with my wife and I. I hear furious typing from her, and ask: "honey, is someone wrong on the Internet?"

          And definitely the trick of being wrong is more effective than simply asking a question. It can be as simple as posting on Reddit:
          "How does (thing) work on Linux?
          I thought (thing) was (some plausible but clearly inaccurate understanding). But it's not working, is this a bug?"

          And then some insufferable pedant will show up and solve my question, usually in the most abrasive way pos

  • This is from a Philly newspaper. They are hoping to increase their local readership by flattering residents that W.C. Fields found to be better than being dead.

  • No (Score:3)

    by oneiros27 ( 46144 ) on Monday October 13, 2025 @01:28PM (#65721892) Homepage

    Just like every other article that asks a yes/no question

    If the answer was yes, it wouldn't need to be a question

  • Gritty functions as both hockey mascot and anti-fascist meme

    The irony meter goes up to 11.

  • I want a cheesesteak, pretzel and TastyCake
  • I consider myself quite well traveled, having even traveled to several states in the USA, but find myself wondering how I would even know if the Internet had a Philly accent? I suspect my knowledge of Philadelphia is about typical of people on the Internet. Here is what I know about Philadelphia:

    - It is the name of a place in the USA.
    - It is probably a city name.
    - It appears in the title of some movies or TV shows, but I can't name any of them.

    So today I have also learnt it apparently has a distinct

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by fjo3 ( 1399739 )
      Philadelphia was the last free Roman city in western Anatolia, and fell in 1390.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Some needs to up vote that as informative. You did omit how their sports team did in 1389 and what their mascot was, which apparently is the main metric for what is important with a city.
  • With Comcast and its media empire, ranging from NBC broadcast to Universal Studios to major sports teams to Xfinity ISP to cable TV to various digital/print publications to DreamWorks and other major movie studios and beyond (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] for more), it is the epitome of a propaganda machine.

    As the old saying goes, Whoever controls the media, controls the mind. https://quoteinvestigator.com/... [quoteinvestigator.com]

    So anyone who remains within the bubble of that media empire is brainwashed into wh
  • perhaps this is the reporter living in a filter bubble?
    Facebook dun it to him/her/it?

  • More like Bill Burr's Philly rant.

  • For the Internet to have a Philly accent, there would need to be Unicode representations for the Philadelphia alphabet (which of course would render here as gibberish): Fukin' A, Fukin' B, Fukin' C, ...

  • (to the tune of 'Walk like an Egyptian'): Talk like a Philadelphian...

  • Jawn! Jawn. Jawn, jawn jawn jawn jawn.

  • The person who wrote the article probably has Philly cookies and Philly social media prompts, living their own echo chamber. By contrast "my internet" is mostly technology and science based due to the above. Fortunately I'm not so self centred to think that "my internet" is the internet in its entirety.
  • Paywalled article from.....you guessed it..a Philly newspaper ! absurdity..

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