How 'water' became 'wooder', the evolution of the Philly accent 

I was not born or raised in the USA but I have always lived in Philly for the 8 years I have been here and one day when I was in DC I went to the market and asked for "wooder" and the clerk laughed at me saying that was the strongest Philly accent he had ever heard and I just felt so proud at that moment. Well I'm not a native english speaker but for me "water" is just "wooder" and it will always be that. GO BIRDS

I haven’t been back to Philly for 30 years but watching this video, my accent came back in mere minutes 🤣🤣

My parents are from Buffalo, NY and therefore don't have a Philly accent. Some of my friends' parents did, and they also smoked, unlike my parents. So when I was young I legitimately thought that the Philly accent was a "smokers'" accent and all people in the US who smoked sounded like that.

Air Force Boot Camp 1965, 60 guys of that group 3 Yankees, NYC, Chicago, Philly. The three of us are talking and one of the good old boys is just standing there listening. He asks "Where the hell are you from?" "Philly I replied." He said in the deepest Southern Draw I ever heard, "You got a helva axcent, I can't understand a thing you all air sayen." Or words to the effect. And I never say "Wooder," but my younger sister does.

I aint got an accent, you have an accent, classic! Thats our one defense and ill stick with it

I legit try to say "water" "correctly" and it just sounds wrong. I can somewhat say it "correctly" when I add bottle to it, but it still sounds off. Wooder till I die.

For the first time ever in my life, someone didn't know what I meant when I said "wooder." It's never happened and I don't live in Philly either. I haven't lived there since I was 6, and I am now 21. Everyone in the suburbs knows what I mean. I asked the guy, "where is the wooder?" and he said, "what?" and I repeated myself three times before the woman behind him pointed to where it was because he didn't understand. I didn't realize that it was the word he didn't understand, not that he couldn't hear it, until after the woman showed me where it was.

Michelle Fiedler: Not only does she have an accent with 'water', but also with 'towels' and 'ask'! LOL I remember that accent from PA! Rarely hear it these days!

As far as unappealing accents are concerned, the Philly accent isn't bad at all imo. But I still have no idea how water became wooder like the title states lol, unless this is a clip from a longer video?

Michelle Fieldler grew up in delco with a delco accent that thick you don't need to specify where shes from 🤣

I like this jawn.

It's the same all over. There is 'proper', academic grammar and speech, and there is the on the ground way that people in different places speak. Grew up in Pa. in west central with it's regional way, closer to 'Pittsburghese', but lived in Philly 4 years and loved the way people there spoke. Kind of a no-nonsense, to the point way, very down to earth.

This segment would be a lot better without the music playing over the people speaking. It's hard to hear them.

I went to the Ak-a-me to get some wooder then went to the toy- rit but the line was full of I-taluns and A-rabs so I turnt around and left ,, true words from my best friend’s mother born and raised in Kensington😂

Yeah it makes since this was uploaded during our warder crisis

I guess Richmond VA is a suburb of Philadelphia PA…I say water as if it were spelled close to wooder or wuh-der, only jumped-up namby-pampies say “WAH-ter” like some BBC announcer talking in a Received Pronunciation accent. 😜

Everyone in Philly says " wooder". There were other words that Philadelphians used to use but not so much now: pavement and spigot are two I can think of.

Their right about water though. I can force myself to say "wahhhter" or towel, but it doesn't feel right saying it like that. It sounds preppy! I will always say wauder and tal. Funnily enough, I kid you not British folks are always trying to figure out my accent. Many times they don't think I'm American. I've gotten south African twice, and another guy just thought I had a strange different type of British accent. Do any another Philadelphians have this happen to them? I'm black and get this. Do white Philadelphians have this happen? Weird thing is... I've noticed Aussies say things similar to us even though their accent is way way different.

The point across quickly is clutch dead on!! 😂

Born and raised Philly of course I did not realize my accent until my older sister started pointing it out and trying to correct me because she was more worldly per se😂 raise my kids in Bucks County and I pronounced words correctly when teaching them to speak, and they do not for the most part speak with a Philly accent, although people not from here disagree with me! So many of my friends have no idea what I’m saying to them about their accent. This city is completely unaware of their accent unless it is pointed out to them when they hear people speaking clear and correctly they truly believe they sound exactly like that. Which believe me it’s loads of fun picking on them and I have the right to do so😂

everyone, everywhere has an accent, genius.

that old guy knows what its all about love to see it

The ironic timing of this story is NOT lost on me 😅

Its a working class accent like NYC (Brooklyn, Queens, etc)

it sounds like if Jersey and Minnesota had an accent baby together.

For me was when I moved away and had to get my radiator in my car repaired. "Your what?" "My radiator." "What...?" "My radiator! I just need it patched, it sprung a leak." "Wait, do you mean radiator?" *confused stare* "Thats what I've been saying!" "What are you saying it like gladiator?" *confused realization* Apparently I have the 'upper crust' Philly accent going for me (which makes sense as my grandparents came from money, even if we never had any). Driving the "Shitty Shtreets" is real for me!

Another thing we say is (for vehicle) ve-icle. No “h” sound. When you travel west in Pennsylvania, you start to hear people pronouncing the H in that word.

nobody ever talks about how white people get to define the accent of an area. Black Philadelphians don't have the same accent as white Philadelphians. Same for Chicago.

I hang out with friends from Long Island - thick accents. I asked them if they thought I had an accent and they just laughed.

Another example " Aye boi, don't drink that wooder, it got chemicals in it! "

I heard it for the first time it blew my mind

Not from Philly but from Maryland, I too say "wooder". And pronounce "wash" as "warsh". I need sm wooder to warsh my close lol

I'm was born in Chicago, and grew up in Michigan, I've lived in Texas for 10 years. I didn't know I had an accent until I moved here and people started pointing it out. My wife has always made fun of the way I say, cops, pop, cat. And when I say words with T's, I pronouce them as D's. Water is Wah-der, little is li-ddle. I add The in front of places. The Walmart, The Target. I feel like we do the same, with how the one lady said talking fast and condensing words. I think I tend to do that too. I tell people it's because growing up where it's cold and winter 9 months out of the year, you don't have time to stand around talking. You just need to get the point across quickly.

watched a vid of someone pronouncing water like this and had to discover where their accent was from! i'm from from california, and i say whah-dher like a valley girl haha

“ wooder ice” lol. Here in Staten Island we say Italian ice. Oh yea, and it’s Hero’s, not Hoagies. But I know they’re from Philly when they say On like” Awn” , unlike here in New York they say “ Ahn”. In Philly I hear Cawfee too

Aside from “wooder” and a few other words, I think these people sound like they are from California and I’ve lived in California (northern, Southern and central) for nearly 40 years.

How many times did he say wooder?

According to linguists, the Philly accent is a variation of a southern accent similar to Maryland but different. I grew up in Montgomery county and our accent was Philly but different from south Philly or northeast Philly.

Title should be how wooder became water because wooder was first

Philly "water" sounds more like English pronunciation than elsewhere in US ("waahder"), though English keep the T's

Well I'm from Boston where we pak the caa in the yad and now I live in Ohio where they warsh their clothes oh and don't forget there sweeping the floor when the vacuum and soda is called pop here.

Them nic stains are crazy!

喔 得~ water . deep in the water

They tawk regular…

seriously? literally everyone that speaks has an accent. no one get to be the 'default', or 'normal'. america didn't even invent english.

This video had very little or nothing to do with the title.

"melodic" 😂

I say "tow-wel"...not "towl" LOL. I'm born and raised in Philly. That chick isnt even from Philly she's from Delco.

Why are you asking blacks? Blacks don’t have a Philly accent. It’s strong with whites.

Wader is how Philly says it not wooder.

I was born and raised near Philadelphia. I realized I had a philly accent when I was living in Egypt and went to the American embassy to vote and do taxes. Someone knew I was from Philadelphia.

This background music is obnoxious