# Adelphia subjecting entire nation to their Pennsylvania dialect **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051 "2005-01-16T18:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/1 "2005-01-16T18:53:08Z")
You know how in threads about regional variations in American English, someone always brings up the Mid-Atlantic expression "needs "+ /past participle/, as in “The car needs washed”. Believe it or not, Adelphia, whose home office is the Pennsylvania town of Coudersport, actually uses this language on their website, and if I hadn’t read about it on the Dope, I would not be able to understand it. If you go to their Contact form, and click on “Cable TV Support” for the subject, one of the description choices is “Cable Line Needs Buried!” And they say there are no dialects anymore! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/2 "2005-01-16T19:04:09Z")
What a horrible perversion of language. I vote for immediately ejecting Pennsylvania from the Union. ---
**Author:** ![BlackNGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BlackNGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackNGold)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/3 "2005-01-16T19:28:46Z")
Ahh, the “vanishing infinitive”. We love it here, and don’t you dare correct us. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/4 "2005-01-16T19:29:07Z")
I knew a guy from Pennsylvania who pronounced it “wooshed.” He “wooshed” his car. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/5 "2005-01-16T19:43:55Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I knew a guy from Pennsylvania who pronounced it “wooshed.” He “wooshed” his car. With wooter, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/6 "2005-01-16T19:51:18Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > What a horrible perversion of language. I vote for immediately ejecting Pennsylvania from the Union. Horrible perversion? :mad: Watch it, or me and my posse of linguists will come over and make you read Labov 'till your head hurts. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/7 "2005-01-16T19:56:55Z")
Augh! Not Labov! _flees_ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/8 "2005-01-16T19:59:04Z")
I drove from Arkansas to New Hampshire several years ago, and the only place where I couldn’t understand a damn thing someone said was in Pennsalvania. I walked into a gas staion and said, “Ten dollars on number five”. He said “hunga wunga gunga.” I froze.“Pardon?” “hunga wunga gunga.” I laid a ten spot down on the counter and smiled. He smiled. I slowly backed out the door. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/9 "2005-01-16T19:59:24Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > With wooter, no doubt. That’s **warter** , if you please. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/10 "2005-01-16T20:07:42Z")
Or in my native stomping grounds near Philadelphia, it’s **wudder**. 😃 The “T”'s slient, don’t cha know? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/11 "2005-01-16T20:10:41Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > You know how in threads about regional variations in American English, someone always brings up the Mid-Atlantic expression "needs "+ /past participle/, as in “The car needs washed”. Is this a recent thing? I was born in NE PA (Erie) in 1969, learned to speak there, lived there until 1980, but that construct sounds horribly wrong to my ears. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/12 "2005-01-16T20:17:54Z")
> [@quiltguy154](#): > > That’s **warter** , if you please. 😃 Warter’s for warshing, BTW. I have a cousin who warshes the dishes in the zinc. I have no idea where that accent comes from. We’re both from the same area, although she’s probably 25 years older. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/13 "2005-01-16T21:49:35Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > What a horrible perversion of language. I vote for immediately ejecting Pennsylvania from the Union. Yinz makin’ fun a’da way wez talkin’ an at? Get outta tahn!!! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/14 "2005-01-16T21:54:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Yinz makin’ fun a’da way wez talkin’ an at? Get outta tahn!!! Ya’ll ever work in a gas station in Eastern Pennsalvania? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/15 "2005-01-16T22:33:49Z")
(thinks) (thinks hard) I use that construction. Right now, my car definitely needs washed (so do the dishes). I always thought it was an Indiana thing. But… I _was_ born in Pittsburgh. Is it really so marked? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/16 "2005-01-16T23:41:26Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Is it really so marked? YES. My friend and former roommate does this, even though she is not only not from PA, she has never been to PA, and is, in fact, from the opposite side of the country. I found it terribly odd that she talked like this - until I learned that her mother’s family is originally from Pittsburgh. Suddenly, everything makes sense. Crazy Pennsylvanians. And what’s with the dots on the freeways? What happens if you don’t keep five dots between you and the car in front of you? Say, what if you’re three dots apart? Is that a ticketable offence? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/17 "2005-01-17T00:18:27Z")
Eastern PA has their own strange pronunciations which add syllables. ath-a-lete, one skilled at sporting events fill-um, the black and white or color media used for recording photographic images Ack-a-me, a supermarket chain, spelled identically to the supplier of Wile E. Coyote Central PA engages in the issue addressed by the OP. We’ll soon be there. Throw the horse over the fence some hay. Smear me all over with jelly a piece of bread. As for Western PA, no one could say it better than **Guinastasia**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/18 "2005-01-17T00:22:34Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Suddenly, everything makes sense. Crazy Pennsylvanians. And what’s with the dots on the freeways? What happens if you don’t keep five dots between you and the car in front of you? Say, what if you’re three dots apart? Is that a ticketable offence? They’re called Bots Dots. Not invented here. I saw them in New York, New Jersey, and down south before they came to PA, and there’s nothing in the vehicle code about dot spacing=citation. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/19 "2005-01-17T00:35:51Z")
Huh. I use that too, and I’m from the south. Never even been to that corner of the US. (Well, dammit, I have, but it was just for a connecting flight. ) ---
**Author:** ![JimSox5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JimSox5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimSox5)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051/20 "2005-01-17T00:40:25Z")
I, too, use that, and I am from Indiana. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adelphia-subjecting-entire-nation-to-their-pennsylvania-dialect/285051.md?page=2)