Where’s Throop?

On a back road near Promised Land State Park, I’m lost. I stop a truck driver to ask for directions and, while he studies my map, I notice his truck comes from Throop, Pennsylvania. “Where’s Throop?” I ask.

“Troop,” he says, not answering.

“Throop,” I repeat.

“Troop,” he says.

“Your truck says it’s from Throop,” I say.

“Well, it’s up near Scranton,” he says, wishing lady drivers were smarter. “But in Scranton, we don’t pronounce our Hs. We say we have a ‘rule of t’umb.’ We say ‘t’rough,’ not ‘through,’ and we have ‘t’ings,’ not ‘things.’ So you want to go to Troop, not Throop.’”

Tanks.

Excerpt from Off the Beaten Path: Pennsylvania, Glove Pequot Press, 8th edition, page 124.