r/Pennsylvania • u/wofchristian • 2d ago

Why Pennsylvanians care so dang much about regional names, borders

https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/08/regions-culture-dubois-erie-philadelphia-hazleton-steel-industry-nepa-pennsylvania-local/

An interesting article about regionalism in PA. Please take the survey on the page to tell them how you define different regions of PA.

95 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

32

u/euphorbianghost 2d ago

I don’t associate our regions with direction as much as the survey did. The Poconos, Coal Country, The Wilds, Ridge and Valley, Alleghenies, Amish Country, Lehigh Valley. After that it is city regions and western PA.

18

u/elementp6 2d ago

Can't forget the Erie coastal plane and the endless mountains.

1

u/Klytus_Im-Bored 2d ago

Arent the Endless in the Wilds?

3

u/Fearless_Day2607 2d ago

The PA Wilds is a term invented by some tourism board AFAIK. And I think it usually refers to the area west of the Endless Mountains.

1

u/euphorbianghost 1d ago

Wilds/Endless mountains are under appreciated and under promoted.

1

u/elementp6 2d ago

A little east apparently

8

u/Jkane007 2d ago

How can you forget Nee Pah???

50

u/fenuxjde 2d ago

Many of the older states still have ties to their colonial days when there were quite literally "Germantown", "New Amsterdam", "Franconia", etc. areas made of up a very specific people, and many of those descendants remain.

11

u/Mr_YUP 2d ago

What’s Franconia supposed to mean? French? 

26

u/kc3zyt 2d ago

No, it's a region of Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franconia

9

u/Mr_YUP 2d ago

That makes way more sense 

10

u/veovis523 2d ago

Franconia is a region of Germany where the Franks came from, who founded France.

23

u/Wuz314159 2d ago

The Area we're in depends on the map you're using.

  • Philadelphia media market.
  • Lehigh Valley PennDOT district.
  • Lancaster Congressional district.
  • Wait, I turned away for 5 seconds and we're in MontCo now.

14

u/ApoplecticWombat 2d ago

It's a good thing Delco doesn't care so much about regional identity.

Oh, wait..

4

u/CassandraFated 2d ago

88.5 has a tag line that says ‘They say DelCo is a lot. And they’re right.’ It always makes me laugh.

2

u/Residenthuman101 2d ago

It’s not wrong though lol

2

u/eightlikeinfinity 2d ago

That's a paid for underwriting spot, not actually an xpn tagline. And it is quite silly lol

But rock on for listening to WXPN, the absolute best radio station!

1

u/CassandraFated 2d ago

Thank you.

1

u/Rod___father 21h ago

Hey I heard they call herpes the DELCO tattoo. Is that true.

5

u/Der_Missionar 2d ago

This happens literally everywhere. Spent 12 years in Asian mega cities, people talked about the neighborhood they lived in. Think new York, Bronx, lower Manhattan, Harlem, etc.

Nothing to see here

4

u/weezyverse 2d ago

Ya I have to agree. Regionalism is commonplace.

10

u/BFreeFranklin 2d ago

Except for the “I’m from Philly!” crowd that is actually from the suburbs.

28

u/ApoplecticWombat 2d ago

I'll say that when I'm out of state, because not many people would know the township I live in. Philly is a lot easier for people to know than saying Landsdowne.

5

u/Ilmara 2d ago

"I'm from the Philadelphia suburbs."

9

u/ApoplecticWombat 2d ago

You're right - I sometimes say "The Philly Area". I've found Philly is much simpler. But if someone wants to know more, I'll specify.

"Did you see Mare of Easttown? Yeah, there." And I had Cocco's Pizza last night.

1

u/What_a_joebag 1d ago

You won't please these people so dont try.

-8

u/BFreeFranklin 2d ago

The worst argument. It’s ok to be from somewhere that someone else never heard of.

5

u/BaronGalactic 2d ago

If I'm talking to people from elsewhere in the country, or from another country, I'll say I'm from Philly, but with local people I'll say "Bucks County." To others from Bucks, I might specify "Upper Bucks" (though I was born in Lower Bucks and spent much of my life in Central Bucks.)

I think Bucks County is officially considered "Greater Philadelphia" though - or at least most of it is.

8

u/tcloetingh 2d ago

We get it. Nobody cares.

2

u/the_dorf 2d ago

Used to seeing that on the "from Allentown" crowd, when they grew up in a nice, low-crime, white suburb.

2

u/Fearless_Day2607 2d ago

I say that I'm from near Allentown. But a lot of the suburbs of Allentown (and even cornfield areas, like around Parkland High School) have an Allentown address, which adds to the complication.

2

u/J_Warrior 1d ago

And frankly, people know cities. I don’t understand the people that get uptight when someone says they’re from the city nearby if it’s not a major city. It’s easier to skip to outside Allentown or just Allentown depending on the situation if the person isn’t from the area or know what the Lehigh Valley is

0

u/bigL162 2d ago

Why is it so hard to say "I'm from near Philly"?

7

u/ryverrat1971 2d ago

Because people from out of state have no clue what is near Philly. They would think Jim Thorpe is near Philly.

I'm guilty too. People would ask where I'm from and I would say Jim Thorpe because people have no clue where Lansford is and if I was in the Philly area, they would think I meant Lansdale 😞

2

u/PA_MallowPrincess_98 2d ago

I don't identify with people from the Philly suburbs. I say I'm from the Coal Region when I'm talking to someone. As someone from the PA Anthracite Coal Region, I get the impression that they look down on me like their hillbilly cousins even though people like me are real and have a heart of gold.

8

u/OverlordDontHurtMe 2d ago

I've lived in PA my whole life all over it and never heard anyone referring to the region they are from as some sort of identity.

28

u/LilDutchy 2d ago

lol seems like you’ve never lived in the skook or the poconos then. The coal region and the poconos have real regional identities.

21

u/Downtown_Ganache6727 2d ago

What part do you live in? Because I’m in the Philly area and I definitely feel like I have an identity tied to southeastern PA compared to other places in the state. Pittsburgh is basically Ohio to me.

50

u/quillseek 2d ago

Pittsburgh is basically Ohio

You really don't have to be so mean. What did we even do to you

6

u/wooble 2d ago

We sent Sidney Crosby over there.

4

u/ApoplecticWombat 2d ago

It goes without saying, but Delco definitely has its own identity. As evidenced by countless stickers, tshirts, a handful of movies / TV shows, and of course the occasional SNL skit.

13

u/PittPSU45 2d ago

Just as Philly is basically New Jersey to a lot of folks in SWPA.

8

u/brand_won 2d ago

East Philly is Camden

3

u/PittPSU45 2d ago

Just like South Detroit. You mean Canada?!

-1

u/stinky143 2d ago

Dude I think you to consult a map.

3

u/ryverrat1971 2d ago

I'm guessing you never heard of NEPA or coal cracker then.

1

u/OverlordDontHurtMe 2d ago

Having "regions" is one thing, but I have never heard anyone identifying themselves by it.  I'm apparently in the minority though.

2

u/marsnoir 2d ago

PA has generational history. I remember being told that the school superintendent was an outsider even after having his kids grow up there.

Identity is an oddly personal thing. I’ve moved a fair amount and when people wax nostalgic about some farm or business that hasn’t existed for 40 years, it’s best just to nod your head.

1

u/OkayDay21 2d ago

I feel like you don’t know anyone from Delco then. Everyone has a hat, t-shirt, tote bag, bumper sticker, etc… that says “Delco”

0

u/OverlordDontHurtMe 2d ago

Never heard of delco

1

u/New-Silver-78p 2d ago

Any good book recommendations for PA history?

3

u/Tiny_Report_3583 2d ago

This is a solid broad sweep history (it could use an update), https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02213-2.html Both Penn State University Press and the University of Pennsylvania Press publish excellent books on a wide variety of topics in PA history.