Before I moved to Philadelphia for school, I never heard the term “water ice.” During orientation week, the brought us Rita’s and everyone was calling it water ice. I was so confused. We have Rita’s in Maryland but we call it Italian ice. It even says it on their sign. Water ice sounds so silly and redundant to me. How can it be water and ice, a solid and a liquid, at the same time? -Ashby
When most people hear “pigs in a blanket” they think of those mini hot dogs wrapped in pastry. But, where I’m from, pigs in a blanket is a Polish cabbage roll stuffed with meat – also called golumpki. I was taken aback when first coming to school that absolutely no one had ever heard of it! – Kellyn
Being from the Philadelphia area, there are a lot of words that I hear on a daily basis from my friends and family that I used to think were just basic English. Later on, I found that they are pretty much only used by Philadelphians. Words like jimmies (sprinkles), hoagie (sub), water ice (Italian ice), tap Mac (use an ATM) and jawn (could mean literally anything) are all foreign words to the rest of the world. – Carly
Growing up, whenever my family ordered pizza they would always call it in and order “a plain pie.” In my mind, this has always been normal and the same as a cheese pizza. However, once I got to college, my friends always looked at me funny whenever I called a cheese pizza a plain pie. After discussing it, we found out that some people call it a “tray” of pizza. Weirdest thing I’ve ever heard! -Cora