Talk:Wawa, Pennsylvania

Name

The Wawa Food Markets page says, "The name of the town is in turn derived from the Lenape word for the Canada Goose in flight," but this page says, "the Ojibwe word for "goose" (taken from The Song of Hiawatha)." Checking directly with Wawa's web page, they say it's a Lenni Lenape word: [1]

So I'm changing it... MyrddinEmrys 00:39, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

The Wawa corporation is wrong. The word "Wawa" is Ojibwe for "snow goose" (Longfellow says "wild goose"), while the Lenape word for "wild goose" is the onomatepoeic "Kaak". "Wawa" is not a Lenape word. Presumably someone put 2 and 2 together (Wawa is an Indian name, the local Indians were Lenni Lenape) and got 22. In fact, "Wawa" is not a relict name of the local Indian tribe, as the town was called "Grubb's Bridge" before being called "Wawa". An illustration in Ashmead's "History of Delaware County" depicts the Edward Worth estate called "Wawa," presumably later extended to the town. I believe the name was applied to the railroad station when the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad built through in 1857, perhaps because it sounded better than "Grubb's Bridge," and that the railroad's usage thereafter came to predominate. Choess 02:28, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

longfellow was known to fake indian words using real word from old world language wawa sounds a lot like goose goose in french or oie oie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.92.64.184 (talk) 03:49, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

I put Choess' and MyrddinEmrys' information into the page, mostly as references, although I added a sentence about the Worth estate name. Any suggestions on putting in headers / organizing the article a bit? Also I think this could probably have the stub removed, but am always hesitant to do so (I know, be bold). What do you think? Ruhrfisch 14:27, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I'm sold on the name not being Lenape... Any volunteers wanna correct the Wawa Food Markets page? -- MyrddinEmrys 22:35, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

everyone know whatever happen to Lobster Pot Restaurant in Baltimore Pike. wawa?

Well, it's been demolished after years of abandonment. Why? I don't know, but there seems to be a great deal of development underway along the Route 1 corridor at present, so maybe the real estate changed hands. Choess 19:58, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Indignity?

The article quotes a writer who spoke of the "indignity" of the town being linked to the convenience store chain. I realize that that is cited as simply one woman's opinion but it still strikes me as a bit funny, given that Wawa stores seem to enjoy a cult-like popularity. Just sayin'.... PurpleChez (talk) 20:45, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Cynthia who?

There really should be multiple sources for the article's contents - seems like 90 percent of this entry is sourced from one newspaper article from one writer from the Philly paper. 2601:282:1300:296:1C0B:54EC:6B6D:21EF (talk) 01:18, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

I came here to see if anyone else had commented on this. As an outsider, I found it an annoying read due to the repetition of the name and title. The impression I got (whether right or wrong) was that somebody wanted to use the page to promote that one particular newspaper writer. The article is (currently) so short that perhaps it should employ her full name and title on the first use and then just surname thereafter? 70.160.231.74 (talk) 12:31, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

I just read the article now, and I had the same thought, too. I came to the Talk page to add a comment about it.

Yes, the article relies a lot on that reporter's Inquirer piece. That she complained about the "indignity" that people associate the name with the convenience store chain calls her impartiality into question.TheBaron0530 (talk) 11:18, 18 July 2024 (UTC)