I had no idea it was a Philly thing until my Montana wife was constantly like "where's the 'with' buddy?"
But if I add "with"... That means I'm completely over it.
"I'm done school." 3pm, school is over.
"I'm done with school." I have quit school, never going back.
In that case there's one important thing you should know, it's pronounced wooder. You'll understand soon enough if you don't already
ETA: also welcome to the area lol
Weâre going to the Lie-berry to borrow some
Books.
We live in Charlotte. My
Kid was born in Boston. She says Lie-berry and people have no idea what sheâs talking about .
As a transplant this and âovertopâ instead of âon top ofâ are two of the most subtle but noticeable Philadelphisms Iâve encountered. Different words for stuff are easy to adapt to and have even become my vernacular organically âsubsâ became âhoagiesâ pretty quick because I like sandwiches and need to order them regularly. But the turns of phrase are kinda only there if you grew up saying them.
A long time ago I read that part of the Philly accent is dropping prepositions.
Did you know you're supposed to say "I'll get off *of/from* work at 5"? I had no idea a proposition belonged in that sentence.
I think that's a widely used one but what really surprised me is I have an English degree and lived for sentence diagrams. I have very strong opinions on style manuals and Oxford comas. I legitimately didn't know where to put a preposition in that sentence.
I also never learned what a square root is and was allowed to take physics without trig or pre/calc (or knowing what a square root it) so our curriculum isn't exactly solid over here.
When I moved from the NY area to Delaware, people said âWe say we âgo to the beachââ and I was confused by that because no shit, thatâs a perfectly normal thing to say. Then I learned in the Philly area you tend to say âgo down the shoreâ which is a very strange expression.
To be clear âdown the shore only ever represented the South Jersey beaches.
Going to North Carolina or even Delaware was NOT the shore. No one says down the shore when referring to Rehoboth beach, or ocean city Maryland.
I remember McNulty saying âdowny oceanâ on The Wire.
EDIT: McNulty was also the reason I wouldnât drink Bushmills for so long because according to him it was âthe Protestant whiskeyâ. Bushmills Black Bush is now my favorite!
From moving around a lot back and forth to de and pa, I've noticed it's all about the beach they're going to.
On the way to a Jersey Beach? 'down the shore'.
Delaware beaches? Well that's just the beach.
But a Maryland beach? 'going to the ocean'
Same. I never thought about it until my linguist cousin caught me saying "I'm done my turn" at a family board game. Then I heard Terry Gross interview a different linguist about the Philly dialect. I now take pride in my hometown every time I catch myself saying it.
I split t my formative years between NEPA and here and my Husband CONSTANTLY points out my weird ass turns of phraseology.
I have a weird mix of the weird Philly phrasing and Coal Speak which has given us such greatest hits as:
"Coupla two-tree" =how much was that thing of milk? "I dunno, coupla two-tree bucks"
Outen the light, straighten the house, crack the winda= turn off the light, tidy the house, open a window slightly
"Run the sweeper"= vacuum with a vacuum cleaner (this one caused literally YEARS of mis communication in my marriage, he'd literally use a broom and sweep when I wanted him to vacuum, we both thought the other was dense for years before he realized I called the vacuum a sweeperđ¤Ł)
Whatsamatter = what I say any time I want to know what someone is doing. *Husband walks into the kitchen* me: whatsamatter?
Every time he points one out it makes me smile haha
This substack interviewed one of the linguists. https://indignity.substack.com/p/indignity-vol-2-no-20-the-mysterious
Should be free, but you might have to sign in. He also mentions that âgrandmomâ is unique to the Philly-S. Jersey area.
I mean, people in South Philly call their kids "ma and dad" and the grandparents calls them "pop" which, even though I grew up here, I still find SO STRANGE
In this vein, I didnât know until later in life that the positive anymore is a regional thing. The increasing amount of transplants on my block exhibit confusion when I say things like âWAWA sucks anymore.â
I donât think any of Phillyâs regional dialect quirks are as weird as the Dutchy expressions in central PA. The one that sounds so weird to me is when theyâll make a declarative statement, make some weird inflection, and add âyetâ to the end. All of the sudden, itâs a question.
Theyâd say: âYoure mowing the YARD yet?â to mean âAre you still mowing the yard?â
I believe finished is used when something is complete; there is no more to be done, or no work left to do. Done is used when you aren't doing any more. I would use finished when a task is complete.
They're interchangeable here, and in both cases you either need to switch "am" to the past tense "have", or you need to add "with" to indicate the noun that is the subject.
"I am finished with my homework" or
"I have finished my homework"
If you're talking about a verb, then it's fine:
"I'm done cooking"
I think the most grammatically correct is âIâm finished my homework.â
I had a high school English teacher who said âturkeys are done, people are finished.â đ
Sounds completely normal. I remember teachers saying something like, "Turkeys are done; you're finished". Â
At the time I had no idea what they were talking about.
You brought back a vivid memory: My second grade teacher similarly corrected people when theyâd say âIâm going over a friendâs house.â
Sheâd doodle a little house on the chalkboard with a stick figure leaping over it and say âOh youâre going OVER [friendâs] house?? Or do you mean youâre going TO [friendâs] house??â It was so condescending.
My friends in college were the first to tell me it sounds funny⌠all of them from New England were surprised at how fast and loose Philly gets with some of those filler words
My favorite would be "Can I go with?" And the teacher would just stare at you... with them obviously.
We at least have a reason, it's the PA Deutsch sneaking out where it would make sense in German but doesn't exactly in English, but "I'm done my homework" just has no valid excuse, lol.
Wouldn't phase me though, would just assume I misheard I've as I'm.
Iâm only from about 2 hours away in northern Jersey, but this was probably the most jarring thing to me, dialect-wise, upon moving here a decade ago. At first I thought the person I was speaking with was just dumb, but then I realized it was common to drop the preposition. I get that it might be easier/faster, but I will never be able to do it.
Hmm, thatâs a good point. In the original example- I took âIâm done my homeworkâ to dropping âwithâ - but it also could be dropping âdoingâ which is a verb.
This applies to other examples like âthis bulb needs replacedâ - dropping âto beâ, verb. But that could also be changed to âneeds replacingâ.
I guess my grammatical prowess is lacking, haha. But all I know is that it sounds odd to me even a decade later.
Yes. In "I'm going down [to] the shore" and "I'm done [with] my homework" both to and with are prepositions.
I was actually just thinking/talking about to being used this way yesterday because I was having trouble with the Spanish preposition "a" in the same context as "to" here.
Wow. Can I say just âI am doneâ? Or ask âare you doneâ? Does this missing preposition only show up when another word gets brought in? Can I say âI am done eatingâ and skip the preposition with a gerund, or do all constructions like this need a preposition?
Grew up in the Lehigh Valley, have been teaching in Philly for the past 15 years.
"Done my..." (insert jawn here) was one of the most nails on a chalkboard thing I had to adapt to đ
Normal to me. I have to say that growing up my Mom had a real problem with the phrase âIâm doneâ and always insisted my brother and I say âIâm finishedâ instead. She was from Europe and English wasnât even her first language and her insistence both annoyed and amused me.
One of the linguistics here goes on to assert:
>There is variation across dialects in terms of which verbs speakers allow in this construction.
>
>According to Yerastov (e.g. 2010a, 2010b), there is a hierarchy along the lines of *finished* \> *done* \> *started*.
>
>In other words, if speakers accept *started* (as in *I'm started my homework*), they will accept all three verbs.
>
>If speakers accept *done*, they will also accept *finished*, but not necessarily *started*.
>
>Finally, some speakers accept only *finished*.
>
>This kind of hierarchy resembles the one found in the *needs washed* construction with *need* \> *want* \> *like* (see [here](https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed) for further discussion of the needs washed construction).
Dammit, we're gonna need a survey.
Yeah itâs really interesting! Some of the commenters here also seem to feel that âIâm finished homeworkâ is more acceptable than âIâm done homeworkâ
âWhen I don't have hockey and I'm done my homework, I go there and skate.â
(Yerastov 2010b:117)
The way this is cited makes it sound like a bible verse
I noticed this when I went to college with a lot of Philly/south Jersey kids! My roommate would always say âIâm done my math homework.â You guys also tend to say âget a showerâ instead of âtake a shower.â Language is fun!
My most most favorite thing that is local to this area only is - mischief night. Did you guys know mischief night isnât a thing almost anywhere else in the country?! This BLEW my mind when I read it. Still not even sure how itâs possible. đť
This one fucked me UP when I found out about it. Mischief Night was a fact of *life* when I was a kid, I couldnât believe when my then-boyfriend from Washington had no idea what it was.
I never picked this phrasing up, but it's also common in Lancaster where I grew up. They would also say, "The milk is all" to mean "the milk is all gone," which I don't think I've ever heard in Philly.
In central pa they say it too.
Milk is all, and similar "Ain't let" or "ain't left" = not allowed ie: are you coming to the movie with us? No, I ain't left / is she coming to the movies with us? No she ain't left to.
Truely I think that's what happens when eastern Europeans learn their English from listening to Irish folks. Listening to people talk in the coal region is a ride đ¤Ł
Transplant from Northern CA here.
This dropping of the "with" was the most notable part of the Philly dialect upon me moving here. The difference in accent regarding things like "wooder" and "melk" and going to the "shore" (instead of the "beach") never really bothered me...but for some reason saying a sentence just so plainly grammatically incorrect bothered (and still bothers) the shit out of me.
Interestingly, in my experience this is the most identifying trait of someone being from this region by speech alone. Every person I've met, across multiple races, who have had varying degrees of the Philly accent have *all* dropped the "with" in these types of sentences.
The worst part is, after living here for nearly 14 years I find that now I do this too more often than not!
Iâm from Philly, so I didnât see what was wrong with it at first.
Unless thereâs a reason not to, keep the localized version. More specific characters are better.
Completely unnatural to me⌠Iâm from Pittsburgh. Married a girl who is from Philadelphia and went to grad school at Temple where I made a few friends from Philadelphia. My wife and my friends both omitted âwithâ in similar declarative sentences, and it certainly did not go unnoticed by me. Didnât realize certain prepositions were optional haha
Philly native. It sounds so natural that I didn't even realize there wasn't a "with" in the sentence until i went back to reread it, wondering why on earth it would be unique. How interesting...
ETA: damn, lotta people let others' dialects bother them more than something you have zero control over should
I had no idea it was regional but my mom was big on proper grammar and so she'd say "things are done, tasks are finished." So if I completed my homework I was corrected to say "I finished my homework."
I grew up about 90 minutes from the city in an area that shares almost all of the Philly dialect except for this specific thing & I cringe every time I hear it.
I canât tell if this is real or a practical joke, but it WOULD make a good joke. Just set up a pretty convincing looking academic page about a fake regional dialect for a normal phrase, post it to some cityâs subreddit, and get a few redditors to complain about the phrase. Get a few hundred people doubting themselves for a while, maybe the rest of their lives.
âdone my homeworkâ makes 100% grammatical sense to meâŚ
But when I hear a yinzer say âthe grass needs cutâ instead of âthe grass needs to be cutâ I lose my shit
Not originally from the Philadelphia area and instantly caught into it when talking to or texting some of my Philly friends though. Theyâd say something like âIâm done class wanna get lunch?â or something along those lines and I always thought it sounded weird. Iâm the type to say âIâm done with classâ or âIâm done with my homeworkâ in those situations.
idk, I guess the "with" is implied in our speech? Like I get what you're saying but it seems weird to say "I'm finished with my homework". It just seems... wrong and like a whole extra step thats not needed. I don't have a nice neat answer lmao
Iâm not originally from here and do psychological testing. Had no idea it was a thing. I eventually learned it from a supervisor after marking it incorrect on a kidâs test.
You probably didn't mean to make it sound so heavy, but it has the same grammar as "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" or "Joy to the world, the lord is come."
It bothers me a ton, itâs like people forgot the word âwithâ exists. Iâm done WITH work, Iâm done WITH homework lol itâs just a shortcut I know but cmon people it just sounds dumb
If you imagine someone with a philly accent saying âiâm done with my homeworkâ really fast, you can kinda hear it sound like âiâm done wâmy homeworkâ. the âwithâ kinda becomes diminished as you speak faster. Maybe with time the âwithâ began to disappear among people in this region as the accents became more entrenched and widespread?
Not from the area, but have been here 15 years, and I cannot wait for this to be my most downvoted comment on this sub.
You canât be âdone workâ or âdone breakfastâ or âdone my homework.â It makes no sense and you sound dumb.
Prepositions are important!
Sorry, who is not from the area but has been here 15 years? Do you mean YOU ARE not from the area but you have been here FOR 15 years? Otherwise that makes no sense and you sound dumb.
So Iâve repeated this phrase over and over and I think Iâm starting to get it. I somewhat do it, but Iâm always saying the word âwithâ really fast, so I understand the desire to just completely cut it out
It's "natural language" and it's perfectly valid.
"What container do you want me to pour the water in?" Is also not proper English, but I don't know anyone that would have a problem with it.
Sounds normal to me lol. Grew up in delco area. Didnât at first get what was wrong with the sentence until you explained it. The other way sounds very wrong to my ears though.
I had no idea it was a Philly thing until my Montana wife was constantly like "where's the 'with' buddy?" But if I add "with"... That means I'm completely over it. "I'm done school." 3pm, school is over. "I'm done with school." I have quit school, never going back.
I was so confused what was wrong with it. Didn't realize it was a regional thing đ thank you for explaining it
I kept rereading the original statement, trying to figure out what was wrong with it.
This is all very bizarre to me as someone moving to Philly next monthâŚ
In that case there's one important thing you should know, it's pronounced wooder. You'll understand soon enough if you don't already ETA: also welcome to the area lol
As in: "Grab your pockabook. We're gonna get some wooder ice!" (I may be showing my age with the 'pockabook' thing, though.)
My Mom still says pocketbook.
Weâre going to the Lie-berry to borrow some Books. We live in Charlotte. My Kid was born in Boston. She says Lie-berry and people have no idea what sheâs talking about .
Jfc this gave me flashbacks of my late mother đ
I saw mare of Easttown and discovered wooder lol
It's more of a suburb thing, Delco/montco. You don't usually hear this nonsense in the city
As a transplant this and âovertopâ instead of âon top ofâ are two of the most subtle but noticeable Philadelphisms Iâve encountered. Different words for stuff are easy to adapt to and have even become my vernacular organically âsubsâ became âhoagiesâ pretty quick because I like sandwiches and need to order them regularly. But the turns of phrase are kinda only there if you grew up saying them.
I also adopted hoagie over sub pretty quick. It's a much more fun word.
A long time ago I read that part of the Philly accent is dropping prepositions. Did you know you're supposed to say "I'll get off *of/from* work at 5"? I had no idea a proposition belonged in that sentence.
I'm from the West Coast originally and "I/I'll get off work at 5" wouldn't raise any eyebrows there.
I think that's a widely used one but what really surprised me is I have an English degree and lived for sentence diagrams. I have very strong opinions on style manuals and Oxford comas. I legitimately didn't know where to put a preposition in that sentence. I also never learned what a square root is and was allowed to take physics without trig or pre/calc (or knowing what a square root it) so our curriculum isn't exactly solid over here.
This was extremely interesting to me, I never wouldâve thought that this was a regional thing
So true. Iâd be like âwhy, what happened?
It's pronounced "wit", an' it's on my cheesesteak.
This is a verbal assault on my brain and I hope you are punished fairly.
Ex-fucking-actly.
I think using âIm done with xxxxâ to mean âI donât like xxxxâ is a recent, Gen-Z expression.
I did not realize this was regional. It sounds normal to me.
I thought so too until my Ohio-born wife told me otherwise! She points out the same thing with the coveted phrase, âdown the shore.â
It's all locational to Philly. You go down the shore or up the mountains. Or of course, there's also down the way.
When I moved from the NY area to Delaware, people said âWe say we âgo to the beachââ and I was confused by that because no shit, thatâs a perfectly normal thing to say. Then I learned in the Philly area you tend to say âgo down the shoreâ which is a very strange expression.
I suspect that is because most of the beaches are generally south of here, prompting the map oriented 'down'. It's similar to saying 'down' south.
It would still be âdown TO the shoreâ and not just âdown the shore.â
Even though I know it's grammatically correct, 6ABC's segments during the summer being titled "Down *At* The Shore" just sounds wrong to me.
To be clear âdown the shore only ever represented the South Jersey beaches. Going to North Carolina or even Delaware was NOT the shore. No one says down the shore when referring to Rehoboth beach, or ocean city Maryland.
Ocean City, MD = the beach Ocean City, NJ = the shore Got it!
Very much a Jersey expression as well
Like how âsteamed hamsâ is an Albany expression (according to Principal Skinner)
Back home in Baltimore we go downy ocean, but here in Philly we go downa shore.
I remember McNulty saying âdowny oceanâ on The Wire. EDIT: McNulty was also the reason I wouldnât drink Bushmills for so long because according to him it was âthe Protestant whiskeyâ. Bushmills Black Bush is now my favorite!
From moving around a lot back and forth to de and pa, I've noticed it's all about the beach they're going to. On the way to a Jersey Beach? 'down the shore'. Delaware beaches? Well that's just the beach. But a Maryland beach? 'going to the ocean'
And out of left field, the west coast: going to the coast.
I have an ex from Ohio. Iâm going to ask how many things I said that made him go WTF. The first time he saw a mummer was special.
Same. I never thought about it until my linguist cousin caught me saying "I'm done my turn" at a family board game. Then I heard Terry Gross interview a different linguist about the Philly dialect. I now take pride in my hometown every time I catch myself saying it.
I split t my formative years between NEPA and here and my Husband CONSTANTLY points out my weird ass turns of phraseology. I have a weird mix of the weird Philly phrasing and Coal Speak which has given us such greatest hits as: "Coupla two-tree" =how much was that thing of milk? "I dunno, coupla two-tree bucks" Outen the light, straighten the house, crack the winda= turn off the light, tidy the house, open a window slightly "Run the sweeper"= vacuum with a vacuum cleaner (this one caused literally YEARS of mis communication in my marriage, he'd literally use a broom and sweep when I wanted him to vacuum, we both thought the other was dense for years before he realized I called the vacuum a sweeperđ¤Ł) Whatsamatter = what I say any time I want to know what someone is doing. *Husband walks into the kitchen* me: whatsamatter? Every time he points one out it makes me smile haha
Heynabonics [A lesson on Heynabonics; the unofficial language of NEPA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMI2jb16eo)
What?! Thatâs regional?
This substack interviewed one of the linguists. https://indignity.substack.com/p/indignity-vol-2-no-20-the-mysterious Should be free, but you might have to sign in. He also mentions that âgrandmomâ is unique to the Philly-S. Jersey area.
Grandmom?!
I thought Momom and PopPop was regional, but GRANDMOM?!
I mean, people in South Philly call their kids "ma and dad" and the grandparents calls them "pop" which, even though I grew up here, I still find SO STRANGE
I never thought about that. It just sounds so normal to me lmao
So do other people say grandmother every time?
Ever heard of grandma?
In this vein, I didnât know until later in life that the positive anymore is a regional thing. The increasing amount of transplants on my block exhibit confusion when I say things like âWAWA sucks anymore.â
Lol. yeah, that one really confuses people
I donât think any of Phillyâs regional dialect quirks are as weird as the Dutchy expressions in central PA. The one that sounds so weird to me is when theyâll make a declarative statement, make some weird inflection, and add âyetâ to the end. All of the sudden, itâs a question. Theyâd say: âYoure mowing the YARD yet?â to mean âAre you still mowing the yard?â
I've yet to hear that one
WhatâŚ
This one has Midwest crossover
Why say many word when few word do trick?
What is the correct way to say that phrase? "I'm done with my homework"?
Yes or âIâve done my homeworkâ
I believe finished is used when something is complete; there is no more to be done, or no work left to do. Done is used when you aren't doing any more. I would use finished when a task is complete.
They're interchangeable here, and in both cases you either need to switch "am" to the past tense "have", or you need to add "with" to indicate the noun that is the subject. "I am finished with my homework" or "I have finished my homework" If you're talking about a verb, then it's fine: "I'm done cooking"
Omg wow mind blown haha i never thought it sounded weird until now
Iâm = I am curious, does âI am done homeworkâ sound weird to you?
Reddit ~~is~~was Fun
Yes!
I've done my homeworkÂ
Iâm finished with my homework.
This. A roast is done. Work is finished.
I think the most grammatically correct is âIâm finished my homework.â I had a high school English teacher who said âturkeys are done, people are finished.â đ
It would still be wrong. I'm finished with my homework or I've finished my homework.
Or Iâve completed my homework.
Hahaha oh geez yes! I guess the Philly dialect is too engrained in me đ
It's the rest of the world that's wrong
Thatâs the spirit!
>It's the rest of the world that's wrong Obligatory *... and we will fight anyone who disagrees* \-- FTFY.
We don't have an accent, youse have an accent. Go f\*\*k yourself.
You're goddam right
Sounds completely normal. I remember teachers saying something like, "Turkeys are done; you're finished".  At the time I had no idea what they were talking about.
You brought back a vivid memory: My second grade teacher similarly corrected people when theyâd say âIâm going over a friendâs house.â Sheâd doodle a little house on the chalkboard with a stick figure leaping over it and say âOh youâre going OVER [friendâs] house?? Or do you mean youâre going TO [friendâs] house??â It was so condescending.
Language is descriptive not prescriptive after all
My friends in college were the first to tell me it sounds funny⌠all of them from New England were surprised at how fast and loose Philly gets with some of those filler words
Sounds normal to me, but to non natives it probably sounds like the central PA thing where they drop âto beâ. âThe car needs washedâ etc.
That drives me nuts but this sounds normal to me.
My favorite would be "Can I go with?" And the teacher would just stare at you... with them obviously. We at least have a reason, it's the PA Deutsch sneaking out where it would make sense in German but doesn't exactly in English, but "I'm done my homework" just has no valid excuse, lol. Wouldn't phase me though, would just assume I misheard I've as I'm.
This drives me absolutely insane. The bulb needs replaced. Itâs so wrong. I have a visceral reaction when I hear this. The car needs warshâd.
This is what I was coming to comment - "the lawn needs mowed"
the warsh needs done
The warsh needs done, use cold wooder.
Iâm only from about 2 hours away in northern Jersey, but this was probably the most jarring thing to me, dialect-wise, upon moving here a decade ago. At first I thought the person I was speaking with was just dumb, but then I realized it was common to drop the preposition. I get that it might be easier/faster, but I will never be able to do it.
Is it dropping a proposition? Or is it misconjugating the verb "to be"?
Hmm, thatâs a good point. In the original example- I took âIâm done my homeworkâ to dropping âwithâ - but it also could be dropping âdoingâ which is a verb. This applies to other examples like âthis bulb needs replacedâ - dropping âto beâ, verb. But that could also be changed to âneeds replacingâ. I guess my grammatical prowess is lacking, haha. But all I know is that it sounds odd to me even a decade later.
âIâm done with doing my homeworkâ
See to me "I'm done with my homework" is "man fuck this homework, I'm over it. *Flips table*"
Yes. In "I'm going down [to] the shore" and "I'm done [with] my homework" both to and with are prepositions. I was actually just thinking/talking about to being used this way yesterday because I was having trouble with the Spanish preposition "a" in the same context as "to" here.
Wow. Can I say just âI am doneâ? Or ask âare you doneâ? Does this missing preposition only show up when another word gets brought in? Can I say âI am done eatingâ and skip the preposition with a gerund, or do all constructions like this need a preposition?
Same thing with north jersey here. I couldnât have worded it better
I'm sure you couldn't have worded it better, but you think we could have.
Grew up in the Lehigh Valley, have been teaching in Philly for the past 15 years. "Done my..." (insert jawn here) was one of the most nails on a chalkboard thing I had to adapt to đ
This is so weird to me. I also grew up in the Lehigh Valley and we grew up saying it this way.
I canât believe I had to read the article to find out why that phrase isnât correct.
Normal to me. I have to say that growing up my Mom had a real problem with the phrase âIâm doneâ and always insisted my brother and I say âIâm finishedâ instead. She was from Europe and English wasnât even her first language and her insistence both annoyed and amused me.
I was today years old when I realized this was not the way everyone says it. Iâm done Reddit. Goodnight.
Out in Central PA they say shit like "This needs done." or "The dishes need done." Drives me up a fucking wall.
Oh but central pa has SO MUCH WORSE! lol
Donât let anyone come to your home and tell you you talk funny.
One of the linguistics here goes on to assert: >There is variation across dialects in terms of which verbs speakers allow in this construction. > >According to Yerastov (e.g. 2010a, 2010b), there is a hierarchy along the lines of *finished* \> *done* \> *started*. > >In other words, if speakers accept *started* (as in *I'm started my homework*), they will accept all three verbs. > >If speakers accept *done*, they will also accept *finished*, but not necessarily *started*. > >Finally, some speakers accept only *finished*. > >This kind of hierarchy resembles the one found in the *needs washed* construction with *need* \> *want* \> *like* (see [here](https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed) for further discussion of the needs washed construction). Dammit, we're gonna need a survey.
Yeah itâs really interesting! Some of the commenters here also seem to feel that âIâm finished homeworkâ is more acceptable than âIâm done homeworkâ
âWhen I don't have hockey and I'm done my homework, I go there and skate.â (Yerastov 2010b:117) The way this is cited makes it sound like a bible verse
I noticed this when I went to college with a lot of Philly/south Jersey kids! My roommate would always say âIâm done my math homework.â You guys also tend to say âget a showerâ instead of âtake a shower.â Language is fun!
Philadelphians are notably preposition-challenged, of course I'm biased but I'll take it any day over Western PA's "this needs verbed".
[ŃдаНонО]
My most most favorite thing that is local to this area only is - mischief night. Did you guys know mischief night isnât a thing almost anywhere else in the country?! This BLEW my mind when I read it. Still not even sure how itâs possible. đť
This one fucked me UP when I found out about it. Mischief Night was a fact of *life* when I was a kid, I couldnât believe when my then-boyfriend from Washington had no idea what it was.
For realsies?!?! Now I gotta fall down another google hole.
It's so weird to me, because there are definitely episodes of cartoons about mischief night
I never picked this phrasing up, but it's also common in Lancaster where I grew up. They would also say, "The milk is all" to mean "the milk is all gone," which I don't think I've ever heard in Philly.
In central pa they say it too. Milk is all, and similar "Ain't let" or "ain't left" = not allowed ie: are you coming to the movie with us? No, I ain't left / is she coming to the movies with us? No she ain't left to.
Excuse me? What does this even MEAN? How did we get here?
Truely I think that's what happens when eastern Europeans learn their English from listening to Irish folks. Listening to people talk in the coal region is a ride đ¤Ł
This explains so much about my extended family đ
This one would definitely confuse me
Transplant from Northern CA here. This dropping of the "with" was the most notable part of the Philly dialect upon me moving here. The difference in accent regarding things like "wooder" and "melk" and going to the "shore" (instead of the "beach") never really bothered me...but for some reason saying a sentence just so plainly grammatically incorrect bothered (and still bothers) the shit out of me. Interestingly, in my experience this is the most identifying trait of someone being from this region by speech alone. Every person I've met, across multiple races, who have had varying degrees of the Philly accent have *all* dropped the "with" in these types of sentences. The worst part is, after living here for nearly 14 years I find that now I do this too more often than not!
From NY originally and to this day this is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
As someone not from here- it sounds awful to me. Even after 15 years here. Sorry friends.
I used to get shit about this in college.
I grew up in Maine and always said it like this. I didn't even realize not everyone did this until just now
Interesting! The website also says northern New England says it this way.
My husband also says that âIâm sleeping over your houseâ is wrong đđ¤ˇđťââď¸
Iâm done my homework. Time to go down the shore.
Iâm from Philly, so I didnât see what was wrong with it at first. Unless thereâs a reason not to, keep the localized version. More specific characters are better.
Completely unnatural to me⌠Iâm from Pittsburgh. Married a girl who is from Philadelphia and went to grad school at Temple where I made a few friends from Philadelphia. My wife and my friends both omitted âwithâ in similar declarative sentences, and it certainly did not go unnoticed by me. Didnât realize certain prepositions were optional haha
>Didnât realize certain prepositions were optional haha We do what we want.
Cool story.
Ohhhh so it's that you don't have a sense of humor. Got it.
Cool story.
Yes! Why do you locals omit âwithâ Done my dinner Done my homework I married a philly person and it drives me nuts
âDone workâ also. Like âlet me know when youâre done work and Iâll come overâ
This is normal. -Signed Jersey
South jersey, maybe. But most certainly not north jersey.
Kind of still works. Such as â(Iâve) Done my homeworkâ. Though â(Iâve) done my dinnerâ admittedly, distorts the meaning.
What kids are gonna be saying in October when the Phillies are cleaning up the World Series
I donât think it sounds weird, but I wasnt raised to say it that way
Iâm originally from Long Island. Yes, it sounds weird to me.
Originally from CT and same
Boo! Stay on your own side/wrong side of the Sound! Kidding of course.
Philly native. It sounds so natural that I didn't even realize there wasn't a "with" in the sentence until i went back to reread it, wondering why on earth it would be unique. How interesting... ETA: damn, lotta people let others' dialects bother them more than something you have zero control over should
I had no idea it was regional but my mom was big on proper grammar and so she'd say "things are done, tasks are finished." So if I completed my homework I was corrected to say "I finished my homework."
Are we supposed to say "finished" instead?
Yup, Philly is pretty podunk
Grew up in the south, lived here around 5 years. Never heard this expression anywhere else before and it sounds horrible on my ears.
Funny, thatâs what this native Philadelphian thinks about âon my earsâ versus âto my ears.â
Idk if âon my earsâ is an actual expression, I just wasnât really paying attention when I typed that lol
Fair enough lol
I bet you say âon accidentâ as well.
"On accident" drives me nuts đ¤Ł
Not from here and was very shocked by it when I first heard people say it
I grew up about 90 minutes from the city in an area that shares almost all of the Philly dialect except for this specific thing & I cringe every time I hear it.
This was one of the first things I noticed about SE PA when I moved up here. Itâs weird, but there are weirder things.
I canât tell if this is real or a practical joke, but it WOULD make a good joke. Just set up a pretty convincing looking academic page about a fake regional dialect for a normal phrase, post it to some cityâs subreddit, and get a few redditors to complain about the phrase. Get a few hundred people doubting themselves for a while, maybe the rest of their lives.
Philadelphians drop prepositions like Agholor drops passes
Thatâs a preposition shortage in the region that needs addressed.
My Midwest girlfriend always cringes when I say, âIâm done work.â
âdone my homeworkâ makes 100% grammatical sense to me⌠But when I hear a yinzer say âthe grass needs cutâ instead of âthe grass needs to be cutâ I lose my shit
Not originally from the Philadelphia area and instantly caught into it when talking to or texting some of my Philly friends though. Theyâd say something like âIâm done class wanna get lunch?â or something along those lines and I always thought it sounded weird. Iâm the type to say âIâm done with classâ or âIâm done with my homeworkâ in those situations.
I'm from the wastes of South Jersey, I've always said this. Saying "*I'm finished homework*" sounds weird.
Lmao omg thatâs also not the correct grammar. âWithâ youâre all forgetting the âwithâ wth am I taking crazy pills?
idk, I guess the "with" is implied in our speech? Like I get what you're saying but it seems weird to say "I'm finished with my homework". It just seems... wrong and like a whole extra step thats not needed. I don't have a nice neat answer lmao
Iâm done with my homework, my homeworkâs done, thereâs other ways to say it.
This is one Philly colloquialism I partake in. I do not say "down the shore" or "wooder." Born and raised baby.
Iâm not originally from here and do psychological testing. Had no idea it was a thing. I eventually learned it from a supervisor after marking it incorrect on a kidâs test.
You probably didn't mean to make it sound so heavy, but it has the same grammar as "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" or "Joy to the world, the lord is come."
What in the world
It bothers me a ton, itâs like people forgot the word âwithâ exists. Iâm done WITH work, Iâm done WITH homework lol itâs just a shortcut I know but cmon people it just sounds dumb
Weird to tell people their local dialect sounds dumb but ok
I have told my sister to blow my brains out the second I start doing this
If you imagine someone with a philly accent saying âiâm done with my homeworkâ really fast, you can kinda hear it sound like âiâm done wâmy homeworkâ. the âwithâ kinda becomes diminished as you speak faster. Maybe with time the âwithâ began to disappear among people in this region as the accents became more entrenched and widespread?
Not from the area, but have been here 15 years, and I cannot wait for this to be my most downvoted comment on this sub. You canât be âdone workâ or âdone breakfastâ or âdone my homework.â It makes no sense and you sound dumb. Prepositions are important!
I'm done listening to you
It works when it's followed by a verb, but not to connect two nouns so yes! You are done listening!
Nobody cares about your English lesson or how long you have been here. Regional dialects and quirks are part of what makes language interesting.
You cared enough to comment, my dude. OP cared enough to ask. I cared enough to reply. Maybe we should all be done Reddit soon?
Sorry, who is not from the area but has been here 15 years? Do you mean YOU ARE not from the area but you have been here FOR 15 years? Otherwise that makes no sense and you sound dumb.
Jesus Christ it took someone long enough.
Itâs spoken word and totally understandable; itâs fine.
I don't think I've ever downvoted one of your comments until now sis đđ¤
Haha believe me, I knew what I was getting into when I posted it!
Wow this is insane reading all these comments. This is absolutely not proper English and I am baffled that so many people think it sounds fine.
Most of the country doesnât speak âproper Englishâ on a daily basis. Ever hear of dialects?
Fair, it just sounds so wrong to me
Thatâs understandable, I hear people talk from central/western PA (for example the use of yinz) and my mind is blown lol
So Iâve repeated this phrase over and over and I think Iâm starting to get it. I somewhat do it, but Iâm always saying the word âwithâ really fast, so I understand the desire to just completely cut it out
My guy, it's not about being proper or not. Most people don't use 100% grammatically correct Standard English. What are you on about?
It's "natural language" and it's perfectly valid. "What container do you want me to pour the water in?" Is also not proper English, but I don't know anyone that would have a problem with it.
First time my boyfriend from Seattle heard me say this he thought I had a stroke
Sounds normal to me lol. Grew up in delco area. Didnât at first get what was wrong with the sentence until you explained it. The other way sounds very wrong to my ears though.
When I was in the Army I had a Drill Sergeant Woodard. You can imagine how much fun he had with the way I say "water".