... pittsburghese
Growing up I never knew that people from the Pittsburgh area spoke their own language. It's called Pittsburghese. Speakers of Pittsburgh English are sometimes called Yinzers, in reference to their use of the 2nd-person plural pronoun Yinz The word yinzer is sometimes heard as pejorative, indicating a lack of sophistication, although the term is now used in a variety of ways.
While not all Picksbergers - Pittsburghers - speak Pittsburghese, to many long time residents, especially those who grew up in the steel towns along the Monongahela River, Pittsburghese is the only way to talk. Grandma Rees and Aunt Becky were masters at Pittsburghese.
Some consider Pittsburghese one of the most annoying dialects on the face of the earth. You decide - take a short course on Pittsburghese:
| Pittsburghese | English |
| Airyago | There you go |
| Chawt | Watch Out |
| Gets da steppin' | Hurry up |
| Gitdahellaht! | Get the hell out (of here) |
| Go by way of Altoona | Take the long way |
| Half in two | Cut something in half |
| Hauscome | What is the reason |
| It's A Burgh Thing | Anything that's unique to Pittsburgh |
| Jag Off | Jerk |
| Jano | Did you know |
| Ja Wanna | Do you want to |
| Junna | Are you going to |
| Mills on Wills | Meals on Wheels |
| Mize well | I might as well |
| Out bacca | Behind |
| Neby | Overly nosy |
| S'not | It is not |
| S'up | What's up |
| Squeet | Let's go eat! |
| Stillers | Steelers |
| Sup wif u | What's up with you |
| Up Under | Where to find something you're looking for |
| Yagottabekidden | You have got to be kidding |
I remember the first time at college when I called someone a Jag Off - boy did I have some quick explaning to do! & finally, it takes some people years to take the r out of wa(r)sh.
Pittsburghese derives from influences from the Scotch-Irish, German, Central European and Eastern European immigrants. Pittsburghese comes in part from speaking more quickly than normal, slurring words and sentences.
According to a study based only on pronunciation, the Pittsburghese dialect region of western Pennsylvania ranges north to Erie, Pennsylvania, west to Youngstown, Ohio, south to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and east to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Throughout this region, words such as house, down, found, or sauerkraut are sometimes pronounced with an ah sound instead of the more standard pronunciation of ow, rendering pronunciations such as hahs, dahn, fahnd, and sahrkraht.