...Where your college roommates from Pittsburgh, LAN-cast-er, and Philadelphia (referred to by natives as filelfia) gather around to hear you talk funny
...Where we drink wahter, not wooder
...Where "houseafire" is a way of describing anything fast. (She was talking like a houseafire, he was running like a houseafire)
...Where Penn State is ivy league (Ya mean you're not going to Grove City?)
...Where you can get legacy admission to Slippery Rock, and be proud of it.
...Where Erie County tried to secede in the '70's but couldn't get those folks in Buffalo to give up their name of Erie County
...Where Welch's grape juice and Wonder Bread are served for communion
...Where "doncha know" is the appropriate ending to all sentences, doncha know.
...Where icebox, studio couch, stove, record player, chest 'o drawers, rug and curtains still describe things in your home
...Where knotty pine panelling is still cool interior decor
...Where you stuff the turkey with dressing
...Where you've never played stoopball
...Where "I've got to light the fire" means you're turning up the thermostat
...Where a breezeway is a really cool thing to connect your house with your 1 car garage (What's a great room, anyway?)
...Where it's still cool to have a bathtub Mary, a flamingo, or a gazing ball in your yard
...Where garage is a one-syllable word (grudge)
...Where a roof is a ruf and a creek is a crick
...Where you can legitimately root for the Yankees, Indians, Pirates, Yankees or Mets; or the Browns, Steelers, Bills or Jints
...Where you look at the Big Ten logo and know that the hidden little "11" is meant for you
...Where you buy things on your chargeaplate
...Where ladies raise money by selling $5.00 worth of baked goods for $1.25
...You have a fine choice of polka shows on Sunday radio, some in German
...Where Erie International Airport means you get a couple flights a day from Toronto
...Land of Tom Ridge and Freddie B (Biletnikoff)
...In a word, "slush"
...Got melk?
Which you took to the downtown Joseph Horne's on Stanwix to buy deli meats (first floor).
I didn't figure out those were bathtubs until I was about 30 years old.