Revised as of
18 Nov 2022
Yeah, someone thought Philadelphia was called “Philly because a Philly is a young horse with Feminine tendencies”.
Yah, no.
It’s actually a filly that is a young FEMALE horse.
Philly is a nickname for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
And yep, it’s an heterograph (a subset of homophone).
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| filly | Philly |
|---|---|
Horse and Filly by Jürgen, from Sandesneben, Germany, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
.jpg)
Philadelphia Skyline from South Street Bridge, January 2020, by Dough4872 with modifications and annotations by Maps and stuff (Brian W. Schaller), via Wikimedia Commons. — That’s the Philly skyline to you. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: fillies |
Noun
Plural: Phillies |
A young female horse, especially one less than four years old
|
[US; informal] Philadelphia |
| Examples: | |
| Four fillies and five colts all breezed one furlong in 10.20 seconds.
In the latest incident, the filly was one of four purchased last year and left in Ireland to be broken. We’re got five two-year-old fillies in training with my brother, Elliott, and we’ve got four three- and four-year-old fillies also. She was going to be the only filly running the office. |
Gimme a couple of Philly cheesesteaks.
He is campaigning for Barack Obama this afternoon in Philly. They often choose places close to commercial thoroughfares like Broad Street in North Philly or West Philly’s vibrant, chaotic Fifty-Second Street. US Airways accounts for about two-thirds of Philly’s travelers each year. “You’re not in Philly anymore, you’re in Detroit.” The schedules called for four nights in Philly at the Republican Convention, or a four-game set in Bridgeport against the Bluefish. |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English from the Old Norse fylja is of Germanic origin and related to foal. | On account of the letter written by John of Patmos to the Philadelphians of A.D. 1, the then city of Philadelphia, founded in 189 BC by Eumenes II, was widely known to Christians throughout the Early Modern Period (lasted c. 1450 – c. 1750) as a glorious, utopian city where faith and brotherly love flourished. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for filly versus Philly
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Pinterest Photo Credits:
The background was removed from Moon Dancer, Daughter of Cassels Danzel and New Moon Girl, born 4 Apr 2009, by JD Lamb is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. Row Houses in North Philadelphia, August 1973, by Dick Swanson has no known copyright restrictions and is courtesy of the US National Archives, via U.S. National Archives & DVIDS.
