Smile. You're in Pennsylvania.

For all of you Midwesterners I thought I'd draft a blog post to highlight all of the special tidbits and trivia exclusive to central Pennsylvania; just in case you find yourself in the area and feel the need to try and blend in :)  Well, it's at least a partial list of things Mike and I have observed during our short time here.

1. We've started to realize that Central Pennsylvanians love to use the word 'awhile', almost excessively and in inappropriate or seemingly awkward places in conversation. You hear it once, twice, a few times at first, then all of the sudden everyone, everywhere is using the word! For example: (eating dinner at a restaurant) Do you need another beer, awhile? Hmmm...awhile what? Seems as though the word awhile is a fitting ending to any question you ask. For the record, I don't use Wikipedia as a reference, but here's what they had to say about Central PA...entries #45 "A while" is often used to refer to the present time. Ex. "Do you want money a while?" Translation. "Do you want money now?" and #47 "Then" is used at the end of sentences. For example: "Will that be all for you, then?". Forgot about #47 until I read it...totally true.
2. Instead of YIELD signs, some of the freeway on-ramps have STOP signs at the end of the ramp...as if entering 70 mph traffic from a dead-stop is a fabulous idea. It's enough to say that we've encountered MANY drivers whose merging technique is less than ideal.
3. I can't quite explain the dialect, inflection, and pattern of which native Central Pennsylvanians talk...you'll just have to listen for yourself.
4. I still maintain that it's kittycorner...but we've made some friends who swear it's catercorner. This usually ends up being a hot conversation item at least once a night with the Penn Street/Green Street crew. BTW, Merriam-Webster lists catercorner as a VARIANT of kittycorner :)
5. You have to sell your soul for a case of beer...literally. Please refer to my earlier post where I complained about our trip to the Beer Distributor which ended in a $71 bill for two cases. 
6. Dobsonfly. You know you want to Google it. Mike and I concur that they are some mutant moth-scorpion-crayfish-thing.
7. Instead of saying "ten to eight" when telling time, it's common to hear, "ten of eight".
8. It seems as if Pennsylvanians have no love for the letter "L". It is often omitted in the middle of words...think "Ode" instead of "Old". You can infer similar pronunciations with like words. 
9. On the same topic, I never knew I lived in Dolphin County; I was under the assumption is was actually Dauphin County.
10. Don't worry, the area is famous for it's Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish heritage...which somehow means that there should be towns nearby named Intercourse and Middlesex??

This post may have to be amended at a later date...I know there's probably more, but nothing I can think about at the moment.  Much love to all of my Pennsylvanian friends; I'm sure they could compile just as large of a list of all our quirky Minnesota things!! :)