Comments on: Weekend Word Wrap: Pittsburghese

By: Lena

Lena — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:56:00 +0000

hallo everyone,

people from Pittsburgh, please, help!!!
Need a speech sample of a casual talk, a conversation, a dialog, an interview, whatever!!! I am going to do a report on Pittburghese in June and can’t find casual speech samples of Pittsburghese on the web:( Already tried podcasts, no chance! I would appreciate your help!!!

thanks in advance

hugs,

lena

By: melissa

melissa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:03:20 +0000

You forgot to mention “fillum” aka film. or the giant iggle. POP. Thats a biggie, and the line in which pop becomes soda lies somewhere just outside Allegheny county. I get funny looks when I ask for pop, and I live in Reading, Pa.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:50:36 +0000

Born and raised in New England, I moved to Baltimore in 96. One of my pet peeves is when people don’t enunciate well and leave off whole consonants. I know it’s a regional thing, but I don’t understand why it’s so hard to leave the last letter on words. To me it sounds like the person isn’t confident in what they’re saying. I had a older Baltimore native coworker get annoyed at me because I leave the T’s on my words, such as when I say “what”. Oh, and it’s Bawlmer. Not BAL-TI-MORE. ugh.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:24:02 +0000

I have a book from years ago – Sam McCool’s New Pittsburghese: How to talk like a Pittsburgher. One of my favorites is the state to the west of PA – Ahia! Then there are the grinnys, aka chipmunks…I now live in Minnesota (I don’t want “a pahp”, I want a can of pop) but grew up in the Johnstown/Somerset area and I can always hear the Pittsburghese! Of course my mom says I sound like the neighbors they had (near their FL home) that were from Canada – everything ends on an up/questioning tone.

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:21:26 +0000

I grew up in Jersey, but moved when I was 14 to France then to Houston when I was 16. So I wound up with an incredibly neutral accent. Except when I’m talking to anyone with a Jersey or New Yorker accent, then I sound like I’m from Jersey. I do use typical Jersey expressions, “down to the shore” and such, and I say pecan, “pee-can.” Which got me a lot of confused looks in Texas. I also refer to carbonated beverages as SODA. This drove me nuts in Texas, they’re NOT all Coke!!! Someone would say, “I’d like a Coke please,” and the other person would respond back, “Which kind?” I also got in trouble at work once because I was working at Boston Market, and someone came in and asked me for dressing. So, I said, “well, we normally only give those with salads, but I’m sure I can find you some, which kind would you like?” To which he looked at me funny, and said slowly, “NO, dressing, that stuff.” And proceeded to point to the stuffing. My coworkers had a good hearty laugh at my expense.

By: Liz

Liz — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:17:09 +0000

My stepmom’s from Pittburgh, and she pronounces her own name (Laura) like “Lara.” She says “melk” instead of “milk,” too.

I’m from North Jersey, and I don’t think I have an accent, just regional stuff (”route” rhymes with “boot,” “soda” instead of “pop,” etc.). But I laugh at my boyfriend, who grew up around Trenton and names a nearby town as “Warshington.” Jon Stewart grew up in the same area as him, he’ll occasionally say “Warshington D.C” on the Daily Show.

By: marissa

marissa — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:21:50 +0000

I’m from Cleveland, Ohio and never knew I had an accent until I met my husband (from the West Coast). Apparently, rather than the “O” sound, we use the “AAAA” sound-as in “Caaallege” in place of College, “PAP”instead of “Pop”, “mam” instead of “mom”.

By: Cari

Cari — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:16:47 +0000

how do y’all say “Louisville?” I’m from Southern Indiana, and generally I don’t have any particular accent… but around here we say something like “Loo-vul” or “Loo-uh-vul.” (we also have a Versailles, IN, pronounced Ver-sails… and Cairo,KY .. which is pronounced CAY-ro.) (Oh and don’t forget Terre Haute, IN… Tara Hut) I live in Evansville.. which we pronounce.. Evansville.

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:53:12 +0000

I just moved from New Jersey to Pittsburgh last month, so this is quite timely for me. My boyfriend grew up just outside the city but doesn’t have a discernible accent, although I almost fell on the floor the first time he said that the dishes “need washed.” His parents and grandmother, however, drop yinzes and dahntahns left and right.

Amber, “jags” is actually short for “jagoffs,” which as you said are the same as “jackoffs” or “jerkoffs” (the latter of which I’d normally use).

Having grown up at the Jersey Shore, I think my own accent is a hybrid of Philadelphia (where some of my dad’s family came from) and North Jersey/NYC (my mom was born and raised in Brooklyn). Those two groups are the people who vacation and eventually move to the Shore, too. I say “wuter” like a Philadelphian (although sometimes the more standard pronunciation comes out), “chawclate” (chocolate) like a North Jersey and as for “Flahrida” (Florida) and “ahringes” (oranges), well, I have no idea where those come from.

By: Amber

Amber — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:58:25 +0000

Ok, so the “Irish Question” thing is about the emphasis, not about the grammar.

Speaking of grammar, my least favorite Pittsburghese thing is the way we drop “to be” out of sentences.

Examples:
Correct: This shirt needs to be washed.
Pittsburghese: This shirt needs washed.

Another Pittsburghese thing that’s hilarious but not yet mentioned is “jags.” As in, “Yinz are jags.” Jags is short for “jack offs,” which don’t ask me how that’s even a noun. It’s a commonly used insult around here though.