# Hey, Geico! You’re not Phillyin’ right, dumbass! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 18, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406 "2026-08-18T20:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/21 "2026-08-19T20:02:19Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If you’re leaving your girl in LA, and going back to Oklahoma via Albuquerque, by the time you get to Phoenix, you’ve gone hundreds of miles out of your way, Jimmy! I just checked a map and L.A to Albuquerque to Oklahoma looks pretty much like a straight route. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/22 "2026-08-19T20:30:21Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I just checked a map and L.A to Albuquerque to Oklahoma looks pretty much like a straight route. Not factoring in road improvements, alignment changes — The straight route using route 66 (I40 was not completed) is 787 miles. The then-contemporary route through Phoenix then up to Payson-Heber-Holbrook (neither I10, I17 or SR377 existed) is 811 miles. So actually not as much difference as I have always thought. I’ll have to stop maligning the song. 🙂 Though…without a lot of interstate miles, it is going to be slower either way. I don’t think he’ll make Albuquerque before her lunch break. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/23 "2026-08-19T20:40:33Z")
Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/24 "2026-08-19T20:58:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > and in NYC, is their pizza called “New York Style”? That’s the only place it’s called “New York Style”. Everywhere else, we just call that style “pizza”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/25 "2026-08-19T23:59:40Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Jesus Christ, Geico, don’t you know anyone in Philly you could have run this by? I think the bottom line is that they’re not trying to appeal to people from the location in the commercial. They know that 99% of the audience doesn’t know or care about directions in Philly. What’s important is that it sounds like something a local would say. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/26 "2026-08-20T00:29:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s the only place it’s called “New York Style”. Everywhere else, we just call that style “pizza”. No, there is deep dish, Chicago style, Detroit style, and even California style (which we Californios never call it that). New York Style- (wiki) > **New York–style pizza** is a [pizza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza "Pizza") made with a large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide [slices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_by_the_slice "Pizza by the slice") [to go](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take-out "Take-out"). The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough beneath its toppings to be folded to eat.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%E2%80%93style_pizza#cite_note-Encyclopedia_of_NYC-1) Traditional toppings are simply tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. This was a popular meal among poor [Italian Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Americans "Italian Americans") due to its low cost.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%E2%80%93style_pizza#cite_note-spruceeats-2) ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/27 "2026-08-20T00:36:07Z")
Seems pretty targeted to us. Has anyone else heard this ad? I hear it several times a day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/28 "2026-08-20T00:37:26Z")
Yes, exactly, that’s ordinary pizza like you can get in any city in the country, and like you do get in most of them if you just ask for “pizza”, without specifying a style. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/29 "2026-08-20T00:49:02Z")
Hard disagree, sorry. What seems to make New York pizza its own thing is the soft, foldable crust; it’s not the default for “pizza” across the country. Even two of the biggest pizza chains in the U.S. which offer that style — Sbarro and Dominos — call it out as New York or “NY” style. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/30 "2026-08-20T00:53:05Z")
Well, Chronos has a point- generic “pizza” looks _similar_ to NY style, but it is not _quite_ the same. There was a place in Hollywood which had “Genuine NY Style” and yes, it was different- but not as different as say Chicago style. But yeah, true NY style is a bit differnt. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/31 "2026-08-20T01:03:51Z")
And yet, no New Yorker has ever been able to describe how it’s different. It’s not the foldable crust, because if you get “a pizza” from Pizza Hut or Domino’s, the crust will be foldable. Likewise for every other trait of “New York Pizza”. It’s just yet another example of New Yorkers thinking that the entire world consists of nothing but New York. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/32 "2026-08-22T13:14:45Z")
If you can’t fold a slice of pizza, it’s just flatbread to me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/33 "2026-08-22T18:46:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And yet, no New Yorker has ever been able to describe how it’s different. It’s not the foldable crust, because if you get “a pizza” from Pizza Hut or Domino’s, the crust will be foldable. Likewise for every other trait of “New York Pizza”. Well, no. If that were true, those same chains would never sell New York Style pizza, as they would be identical. I’ve had New York Style pizza from those places, and you cannot pick up a slice without it drooping and stuff starting to slide off. You have to fold long ways to eat it. You do not have to fold the standard fast food pizza. The crust is a bit thicker. There is a thin crust variation of the standard pizzas, but they aren’t foldable, nor do they droop. You can sometimes bend them a bit, but if you fold them, they break. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/34 "2026-08-22T19:37:40Z")
I’m just waiting for the Geico commercial where they say that, as proud Philadelphians, they love the Dallas Cowboys. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/35 "2026-08-25T11:14:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, exactly, that’s ordinary pizza like you can get in any city in the country, and like you do get in most of them if you just ask for “pizza”, without specifying a style. Nope, NY style is floppier. True, it’s not as immediately distinctive from your average pizza as, say, Chicago deep dish is, but once you know what to look for — floppiness — you can’t miss it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406/36 "2026-08-25T23:46:59Z")
I’m willing to give people (who aren’t broadcasters, where you’d expect a modicum of research first) credit for trying to pronounce an unfamiliar Native American name for a small town in Wisconsin. But… > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, don’t get me started on pronouncing the state name “WES-con-sin”… WHERE do people get that? And they really emphasize the “WES”. I hear that a lot, and I’m flummoxed by people substituting an entirely different vowel. I wonder if they put their MELK in a grocery BAIG? Geez, they probably say Illi-NOISE for the next state, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-geico-you-re-not-phillyin-right-dumbass/1032406.md?page=1)