The Talk of the Town: Pittsburghese
Do you speak Pittsburghese? Not Portugese, but Pittsburghese--the
dialect and lingo spoken by native Pittsburghers. Here’s an example.
“Listen, yinz, ta this story. Last Mundy, when I got home from
dahntahn Picksburg, I redded up the hahse, worshed the clothes and did the
arning, n’at. Then I decided ta take a break coz I was gettin’ rilly
hungry. I looked ina fridge, but it needed stocked. Alls I had
was butterbread and leftover city chicken. No jumbo, no chipped ham,
no kolbassi.
So I headed aht to the store. I got me a buggy and picked up a hoagie,
some pop and a duzn eggs in case I wanted dippy ones in the mornin’.
When I got back home, I headed aht to set by the crick ta eat in peace and
quiet. Just as I was gonna take a bite a my sammich, my nebby
neighbor, Shurl, shows up, wantin’ ta know how I been. Whiles we’re
chattin’, I see a grinny sneak up and start nibblin’ on my mill. I
tried ta chase him, but the grass was slippy, and I fell in ta the
jaggerbushes. I never been so flustrated.”
If you grew up in our home town, no further
explanation is necessary. In case you’re new to
the “Burgh,” or planning a visit, here’s an insight into
what that was all about:
“Listen, all, to this story. Last
Monday, when I got home from being in downtown
Pittsburgh, I cleaned the house, washed the clothes and
did the ironing. Then I decided to take a break
because I was getting really hungry. I looked into
the refrigerator, but it need to be stocked. All
that I had was buttered bread and leftover city chicken
(cubed beef or veal, skewered, breaded and fried.)
I had no bologna, thinly sliced ham, no Polish sausage.
So I went to the store and got a cart. I bought a
submarine sandwich, soda and a dozen of eggs in case I
wanted eggs over easy in the morning. When I got
back home, I headed out to sit by the creek to eat in
peace and quiet. Just as I was about to take a
bite from my sandwich, my nosy neighbor, Cheryl,
appeared and asked how I have been. While we are
talking, I saw a chipmunk and it started to nibble on my
meal. I tried to chase him, but the grass was
slippery and I fell into the thorn bushes. I’ve
never been so frustrated.”
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Pittsburghese - Influences From Many Cultures
As you can see, Pittsburghers have a language all
their own, with a distinct vocabulary, grammatical
construction, and pronunciation. Much of the way
Pittsburghers talk is due to the people who settled here
and built our great city over the centuries. The
area has seen wave after wave of immigrants, each
leaving their mark on the local language. The
first people from Europe to live in southwestern
Pennsylvania were Scots-Irish, and linguists believe
that the peculiar “yinz,” the second personal plural
pronoun, is derived from a Scots-Irish heritage.
It is the equivalent of the Southern “y’all” or the New
Jersey “yous.” Many people believe the terms nebby,
slippy and redd-up came from the Pennsylvania Dutch, but
researchers from the Pittsburgh Speech and Society
Project, attribute those words also to the Scots-Irish.
The Germans, or those who were referred to as the
Pennsylvania Dutch, also had a great influence on the
language as well. Many linguists attribute the
habit of Pittsburghers to lower the intonation at the
end of a question that can be answered with a yes or no
to the speech patterns of this group.
The influx of Eastern Europeans added to the
vernacular and may have contributed to the way
Pittsburghers pronounce their words. Babushka (a
headscarf); kolbassi (sausage); and gutchies
(underwear), all are believed to have come from the
Eastern Europeans. It is supposed that with all
the different ethnic groups trying to learn the language
at the same time, the pronunciations may have morphed
into non-standard sounds. For instance, if a
Slovakian immigrant was working with a Polish immigrant,
and they were both trying to learn English, the result
may have been the unusual way of pronouncing words that
is evident still today.
Talk Like a Pittsburgher
It is not difficult to speak like a native
Pittsburgher; it takes little effort. Unlike Eliza
Doolittle, Pittsburghers don’t place much emphasis on
diction. You won’t hear the precise sounds of “how
now brown cow” from the lips of someone fluent in
Pittsburghese. It would sound more like “hah nah
brahn cah". Instead of rounding the mouth to form
vowel sounds, natives tend to keep their lips at rest
and form the vowels sound from the back of the mouth.
Grammatically, Pittsburghers ignore the need to
include “to be” with words like, need or want. For
instance, it is quite common to hear a phrase such as
“The grass needs mowing” instead of the grammatically
correct “The grass needs to be mowed.” This form
of sentence construction is also believed to have been
inherited from the Scots-Irish.
Pittsburgh area residents also have a curious habit
of tacking “n’at” at the end of their sentences.
Translated, it means “and that” and really has no
meaning beyond a kind of et cetera. Pittsburghers
proud of their heritage can be seen sporting bumper
stickers that say N@, a referral to the “n’at” ending.
While some are quite proud of the way they speak, others
who consider Pittsburghese as a lower form of speech
often refer to die hard native speakers as “yinzers,”
much the same way as those who speak the King’s English
look down on others who speak with a cockney accent.
Of course, no matter your feelings toward the
peculiarities of native Pittsburghese, it’s always the
talk of the town!
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