Language Reveals You

“Hello. Can I have 2 large Italian hoagies with everything on it?”

“I’m sorry, you want 2 large what with everything on it?”

“Um, 2 large hoagies please.”

“Hoagies...what in the heck are...Oh, you’re a Philly boy! You want some subs.”

“Um, yeah sure. Okay.”

While in North Carolina visiting my cousins, we left the house to go to a food shop a couple blocks away. When we got there, we all ordered what we and the rest of our families wanted to eat. The above conversation is of myself and the cook behind the counter. After this conversation, I turned to my cousins and asked why that man never heard of the term “hoagies” before. They then told me that the people in North Carolina don’t say that word. Instead, they say “sub sandwiches.” I was intrigued that other people in the United States had a different name for hoagies. However, I was even more intrigued that he knew that I was from Philadelphia just because I said that word.

About a week later, when my family came back home, I did a little research on this and found out that it was only the people in Philadelphia that said the word “hoagies.” Just about everyone else in the U.S. said subs. I was amazed! So I looked up more words associated with the city of Philadelphia and found the term “jimmies.” Personally, I hated this name and still do. They are called Sprinkles. That’s just a fact. However, apparently in Philadelphia, most people call this famous ice cream topping jimmies.

Even now, I researched more words and phrases that are common to use in Philadelphia for this essay. I found that a regular phrase I use, “water ice,” is really only used in this city. I was actually stunned to find this out. For many years, I, and the rest of the city of brotherly love, have called “Italian Ice” “Water Ice,” and have never thought twice about it, regardless of what people of other cities say. The same goes for the term “Sixers,” a nickname for Philadelphia’s Basketball team. I rarely call them by their whole name, the 76ers. I and pretty much the rest of the people in Philly just call them by the Sixers.

Researching and uncovering the different phrases used by multiple people in Philadelphia that I use as commonplace has told me a lot about myself, both after my experience years ago and now while I research and write this paper. I’m a Philadelphian, one who is more engrossed in the lifestyle and language of the city than I thought. I use these words and phrases practically on a daily basis in my everyday life. My language defines my life, my family, and everything else about me. These words could possibly reveal my origin, my background, my family, my friends,and, as stated, my lifestyle as a person living in the city of Philadelphia. When explaining what it meant to “put your business in the street” in England, James Baldwin goes further on the point of revealing one’s self through speaking his language in his paper “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” He said “You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” I agree with with this quote. By only talking regularly, you’ve quickly revealed just about everything about you. Unfortunately, this may not always be a good thing in the long run.

I’ve heard people call the city of Philadelphia by a few derogatory names, one of which was the negative nickname of “Killadelphia.” Admittedly, there are a lot more casualties and killings done on purpose than desired or wanted in this city. People see this and begin to categorize Philly as a horrible city where the people hurt their fellow people. So hearing words or phrases known for originating from a place where relatively horrible things can take place may cause people to think negative thoughts and act with fearful actions towards people in Philadelphia. As a resident in this city, it makes me feel uncomfortable hearing these stereotypes distributed to all of the people who live in Philly. To illustrate this, I’ll explain a bit more about the example at the beginning of this essay paper.

After I said the word hoagies again the second time, the cook behind the counter had a fearful eye motion when he figured out where I was actually from. He then swiftly went to the counter behind him to work on the “sub sandwiches.” I then saw him converse with his fellow worker.

He said “Watch out for the black guy back there.”

It was then that I asked my cousins why he never heard of “hoagies” before. After they said what they said, it hit me why the cook had a fearful glint in his eye: he realized that I was from Philly and thought that I might do something bad because of this, because of the stereotypes he may have heard or possibly made about us Philadelphians. This is what caused me to be intrigued enough to research the subject of words and phrases common in Philadelphia. People become fearful when they hear certain words or phrases.

Now, using all of the research I have done for this paper, I can finally respond the question “What might the language you use say about you?” with a full answer. I, as a person living in Philadelphia, use language that has the potential to reveal my own lifestyle. Even though people may give me labels thanks to the words I use, I and the other people in Philly know that these labels hold no truth. My language may reveal different aspects of my life, like my origin and history, but I think that these aspects are some of the best parts about my life. My language came from these origins, which means my language is a part of myself today.