LibGuides: Pittsburghese: Welcome! (2024)

FAQs

What is the Pittsburgh accent called? ›

Many people in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania are convinced that a distinctive dialect of English is spoken in the area, which they call “Pittsburghese.”

Words like “iron” aren't pronounced “eye-urn” but instead like “arn.” The word “steel” is spoken like the word "still," and sometimes Pittsburgh actually sounds like "Pixburgh." Old timers often add the letter “r” into words where they don't belong, and like many other Pennsylvanians, we often drop “to be” from ...

Western Pennsylvania English can be seen in orange. A sign using "Dahntahn" to mean "Downtown" in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Yinzer is a 20th-century term playing on the Pittsburghese second-person plural vernacular "yinz." The word is used among people who identify themselves with the city of Pittsburgh and its traditions.

Nebby. Definition: Nosy, snoopy, inquisitive. Used as an adjective or noun. Another noun form is 'nebnose.

Most well-known is Duquesne, the name of the fort that French soldiers burned and abandoned to an approaching British army in 1758 and was renamed Fort Pitt, later Pittsburgh. Now the name of a city along the Monongahela River and a Pittsburgh university, Duquesne was the handle of France's colonial leader in America.

The band's name derives from the Western Pennsylvania English term, "jagger," meaning any small, sharp-pointed object, typically thorns, spines, and prickles.

Jagoff or jag-off is an American English derogatory slang term from Pittsburghese meaning a person who is a jerk, stupid or inept.

Yinz (see § History and usage below for other spellings) is a second-person plural pronoun used mainly in Western Pennsylvania English. It is most prominent in Pittsburgh, but it is also found throughout the cultural region known as Appalachia, located within the geographical region of the Appalachians.

Soho's name came from one of the neighborhood's earliest and most notable inhabitants, James Tustin. After coming to America from England in 1790, Tustin made his way to Pittsburgh in the first decade of the 19th century.

What is the nickname of Pittsburgh? ›

Pittsburgh is known as "the Steel City" for its dominant role in the history of the U.S. steel industry.

Nebby (adjective)

To be nosy, getting into other people's business.

Pittsburghese, or Western Pennsylvania English, has roots within Scots-Irish, Pennsylvania German, and Slavic-speaking vocabularies¹.

the pits in American English

slang. an extremely unpleasant, boring, or depressing place, condition, person, etc.; the absolute worst.

The Pirates are also often called the Bucs or the Buccos. This is because the word "buccaneer" is slang for pirate.

Pittsburghese, or Western Pennsylvania English, has roots within Scots-Irish, Pennsylvania German, and Slavic-speaking vocabularies¹. It is distinct for it's cot-caught merger, where for example 'ah' sounds merge into an 'aw' sound to create a number of vowel mergers.

If you are addressing them directly, in the local dialect, you can call them “Yinz.” This word is singular or plural, and probably comes from “you ones.” Some believe that to be plural, you'd need to say “All yinz.” This word leads to a nickname for people who use this dialect, which is “Yinzers.”

Some Pittsburghers use yinz,yunz, or you'unz for you when there is more than one you. The word “anymore” can be used in sentences where there is no negative word. The word “whenever” can be used with things that happen only once. “Whever I finish the car I'll take you for a ride.

Y'all, a contracted form of you all, is now used across the southern United States. Other forms are used in other places where Irish or Scotch-Irish people settled. The word now spelled “yinz” in Pittsburgh is a contracted form of you ones.