South Jersey English
South Jersey is within the Philadelphia dialect region. One recognizable feature of this is the pronunciation of /oʊ/ (the vowel in go) as, and this can also be found elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
Visitors to South Jersey will notice the following usages standard in the Delaware Valley:
- Hoagie: This usual term for what might elsewhere be called a submarine sandwich.
- Wooter: the first vowel in the word water is rhymed with that of the verb put.
- Jimmies: used to refer to the chocolate or rainbow variety of sprinkles used on cakes and ice cream. The term is also used in the Boston area but is uncommon in North Jersey.
- Down the shore: To head down the shore is to spend time in the Jersey coastal resort areas. Once you are down the shore, for the day or at a residence in the area, you can go to the beach, or the boardwalk, and so forth. The phrase was even used as the name of a short-lived sitcom, Down the Shore.
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Famous quotes containing the words south, jersey and/or english:
“We in the South were ready for reconciliation, to be accepted as equals, to rejoin the mainstream of American political life. This yearning for what might be called political redemption was a significant factor in my successful campaign.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“To motorists bound to or from the Jersey shore, Perth Amboy consists of five traffic lights that sometimes tie up week-end traffic for miles. While cars creep along or come to a prolonged halt, drivers lean out to discuss with each other this red menace to freedom of the road.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
““Mustn’t grumble” was the most English of expressions. English patience was mingled inertia and despair. What was the use? But Americans did nothing but grumble! Americans also boasted. “I do some pretty incredible things” was not an English expression. “I’m fairly keen” was not American. Americans were showoffs—it was part of our innocence—we often fell on our faces; the English seldom showed off, so they seldom looked like fools.”
—Paul Theroux (b. 1941)