You know you're from Pennsylvania . .

You know you're from Pennsylvania if...

You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything but "Philly", and New Jersey has always been "Jersey." You refer to Pennsylvania as P.A. How many other states do that?

You know who "Punxsutawney Phil" is.

The first day of buck season and the first day of doe season are school holidays.

You can use the phrase "fire hall wedding reception" and not even bat an eye.

You can't go to a wedding without hearing the "Chicken Dance," at least one polka and either an Italian song or "HavaNagila."

At least 5 people on your block have electric candles in all or most
of their windows all year long.

You know what a hex sign is.

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.

You own only three condiments: salt, pepper and Heinz ketchup.

Words like "hoagie", "crick", "chipped ham", "stickybuns",
"pierogies" and "pocketbook" actually mean something to you.

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: red, white, brown, and gold.

You know several places to purchase or that serve scrapple, Summer
Sausage (Lebanon Bologna), and hot bacon dressing.

You can eat a cold soft pretzel from a street vendor without fear and enjoy it.

You know the difference between a cheese steak and a steak sandwich,
and know that you can't get a really good one outside PA.

You live for summer, when street and county fairs signal the beginning of funnel cake season.

Customers ask the waitress for "dippy eggs" for breakfast.

You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Climax, Bird-in-Hand, Beaver,
Moon, Virginville, Paradise, Mars, and Slippery Rock are PA towns.

You know what a township, borough, and commonwealth is. (At least you
vaguely remember.)

You can identify drivers from New York, New Jersey, or other neighboring states by their unique and irritating driving habits.

A traffic jam is ten 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.

You still keep kitty litter, starting fluid, de-icer, or a snow brush in your trunk, even if you live in the south.

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.

Your graduating class consisted of mostly Polish, German, & Italian names.

"You guys" is a perfectly acceptable reference to a group of men & women.

You know how to respond to the question "Djeetyet?" (Did you eat yet?)

You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre, Schuylkill, BalaCynwyd, and Monongahela.

You know what a Mummer is, and are disappointed if you can't catch at
least highlights of the parade.

Oh, yes, Vikki, Go Stillers, but "younz" have to go "dun tun" and cross the river to see them! Well, excuse me, but I have to "redd up" the house!

Vikki, Dr. Salk did his on-site research at Municipal Hospital, up near Pitt stadium, and was one floor beneath the polio patients. I was one of them. Every week for months someone was withdrawing blood from us, and I'm assuming it was used to develop the vaccine. That was the last epidemic, thank God! Many of the patients were not as lucky as I was.

Also, Dr. Jesse Wright, one of the orthopedists who cared for the patients, was the inventor of the rocking bed, which was used to force air in and out of former iron lung patients. My doctor was the orthopedist for the Steelers and Pirates. The March of Dimes paid for the six months I was in the hospital and all subsequent surgery and care.

I may be posting from NY But I was born & raised in PA!!! Any PA person know's what Stump Jumper means!Yes I know how to use jumper cables I would move back to PA,if Ted could get a job there. I was born in Warren PA,grew up in Sheffield,lived in Kane,ahter I got married,Ted is from Kane.
GO PITTSBURGH STEELERS!!!!!

This just went into an email to a friend up there in PA. Funny, but many of these apply to us Jersey folks too.

Awwww, gee, Vikki, thanks! I am one very lucky person!

omg I'm from PA and I soo kno what ur talking about in this post..

i got another pa email and my favorite thing from it was:

You kno you live in PA if you refer to the four seasons of the year as winter, almost winter, still winter, and construction..

Oh yes, I can relate to those.

Incidentally, the correct response to "Djeetyet" is "No/Yes, Djyoo?"

It's really eerie how many of those are true... well, I'm sure they all are, but there are a few I can't relate to... but only a few...

I had to laugh at the one about the electric candles in the windows all year round. I've always thought it was an odd practice, but one I have seen for years and years, so I don't really think about it when I pass a house like that.

When my BF moved here from California three years ago, we were driving down the street one night shortly after he moved in, and he asked, "What are all those lights in the windows of that house?" It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. I explained, and he then asked, "Well, WHY?" I had to laugh and shake my head.

Sue - I know what you mean... I've lived in PA all my life (and yes, I do say P A ), so I always thought those candles were normal. And until I saw this post I thought people did it everywhere... :tounge2:

I was raised in PA! In Media and Wallingford, about 20 minutes outside Philly.

Those were hysterical - I can definitely relate to many!

Hi,
You´ll be surprised to hear that I spent lovely weeks at the Hill School in Pottstown in 4 consecutive summers. I actually went to Intercourse and here nobody could believe that there is a place by that name.I liked Penylvania and would love to return and visit my friends.My son is in Michigan. So I´ll really have to plan my flights especially since I have a problem with INS.However I need to go to the States this year since I want to attend my son´s graduation ceremony.Wish me luck that I get my visa.I was erroneously accused of having overstayed the permitted 3 months.INS had worked sloppily and missed 3 entries in the computer very much to my disadvantage.They sent me back after holding me for 7 hours.So I hsd 2 transatlantic flights in one day although I´m disabled and sitting in a wheelchair.Nobody cared on the contrary.Well, all the best.you live in a lovely State enjoy it. Best wishes elisabeth in northern Germany

Like Elisabeth, I'm over here in Germany, but I was born in Philly and raised in Delaware County. I attended St. Joe's and the U of P. One thing you forgot - the people from Philly and surroundings drink "wudder"! How I miss the VF Outlet in Reading, scrapple, cheese steaks (though I got a fairly good one in Atlanta once - there's a "Pat's Steaks" there!) and hoagies (you aren't going to believe this, but there is a place called "Hoagies" which serves more or less real hoagies in a little town called Schorndorf in southwestern Germany. Hoagies have gone global! I had to write a letter to the local paper explaining where the name came from - a woman from Camden also wrote). People here in Germany shudder when I put mustard on soft pretzels - they use butter. My husband is the only one here who has seen me eat cold pizza for breakfast. I just emailed this to my niece, and will fax it to my mom - they're "stranded" out in Omaha!
P.S. Do people from PA still refer to Jersey drivers as "JJO's"? If you're from Jersey, sorry!

Okay, would someone please explain the candle in the window thing???? They do that in here in New England as well, and can't for the life of me figure out why.....

I think the candles are called friendship candles. I guess people put them in their windows to show a sense of community.

I also say PA, and never paid attention to that fact until I read this list.

In this part of PA, people say youse. As in: are youse guys going to the movies tonight?

I love the PA Dutchisms: Throw your father down the steps his hat.
Throw the cow over the fence some hay.

And--"The hurrier you go, the behinder you get."

I'm from PA, of course, but I have never seen the candles in the windows unless it's the Christmas season. I guess the people in W. PA don't use them as much.

I emailed/faxed this thread to several other "Pennsylvanians in exile" - the common response was, "Do I miss hoagies and scrapple!"
PA - the "good-eatin state"! I actually dreamed of eating scrapple and funnel cake last night. My (German) husband absolutely loved the Kutztown Fair. Don't you find it amazing that the PA Dutch have managed to maintain their culture and language this long? I hope they hold out for another couple of centuries. "Tie the horse loose" is something I would expect to hear from my German students. William Penn was on to a good thing. I'm homesick - after 20 years abroad!

Do you guys know the commercial for some fast food place where they send an office worker to Philly to find out everything about the Philly cheesesteak and he comes back a few months later with a mullet and stone washed jeans and a lovely Philly accent - it's hysterical!