Should the official Pittsburgh abbrv. be changed from PGH to PIT? (Swissvale: school district, law)

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by TechCom

Can you explain the context?
I never read it, but I just did a text search through the book and couldn't find it.

Maybe I was thinking of Mine Camp F , by A. Dolph Hilter.

[groar]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I haven't lived there since 1984 ... think that qualifies me AS an outsider.

i was born and raised in new york and connecticut and didn't move to pgh til i was an adult, but blackbeauty has still repeatedly called me an "insular native" (and implied i was stupid, but hey). i think the only people who get to qualify as outsiders (and therefore have opinions that count) are people who agree with her (him?)

[BrianTH]

I'll admit I stopped reading after the first 80 or so posts, so I apologize if this is all redundant (call it added votes for the following propositions if so):

(1) I am very skeptical about there being some sort of universal, inherent "branding" or "marketing" value in having an "official" three-letter acronym. As others pointed out, cities whose full name has a lot of syllables may benefit from an acronym, in which case it happens more or less organically (NYC, LA, DC, etc.). But there are many successful world cities (Rome, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, and on and on) where if there is in fact any three-letter acronyms associated with those cities, they certainly are not commonly used in my experience. In short, if the City of Pittsburgh is mostly known as "Pittsburgh" globally, I think it will be just fine;

(2) I don't see a problem with both PIT and PGH being used as a code for Pittsburgh in different contexts. That is because I am not aware of any other major city laying claim to either of those three-letter codes, and so I don't see a likelihood of confusion on any given use, and therefore I don't see a pressing need to settle on just one;

(3) I understand this is a bit of an insider thing, but I do think it is useful for locals to distinguish Pitt (the school), PIT (the airport), and PGH (the city). In fact I use that scheme all the time for thread titles around here. I understand that if this was hugely problematic for outsiders, then insiders might be well advised to give up on this otherwise useful bit of coding, but because of points #1 and #2, I don't see it as problematic, so we might as well keep it up for local purposes.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

If I'm capable of that? Someone has their snarky pants on!!

I haven't lived there since 1984 ... think that qualifies me AS an outsider. If you simply MUST abbreviate, PIT being the nickname of a college here, I'd go with PGH. Too confusing otherwise.

I still prefer the full name, I like how it rolls off the tongue.

Originally Posted by groar

i was born and raised in new york and connecticut and didn't move to pgh til i was an adult, but blackbeauty has still repeatedly called me an "insular native" (and implied i was stupid, but hey). i think the only people who get to qualify as outsiders (and therefore have opinions that count) are people who agree with her (him?)

An "Outsider" is someone who's never lived breathed or experienced Pittsburgh dialect.....GET IT....NO YOU'RE NOT OUTSIDERS since this doesn't apply to you.

I haven't lived in Pittsburgh for over 20 years now but I'm not an "Outsider" since I'm a native who very accustomed to Pittsburgh dialect.

As you guys have shown you can't even put your minds into thought process of an Outsider. Anyway I'm done with this, this topic was just way too much for some people to grasp.

[pman]

I've never heard anyone refer to Pittsburgh as PIT or PGH in conversation. People always seem to use the full name. It's only online and there's absolutely not confusion over what PGH means. this seems like a solution in search of a problem.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Anyway I'm done with this, this topic was just way too much for some people to grasp.

Right, right. When the discussion doesn't go the way you hoped you can just dismiss it as being too much for EVERYONE ELSE to grasp.

Good luck with that.

[BrianTH]

For what it is worth, I think I can remember being an outsider fairly well. Before I started looking at Pitt for grad school, I'm pretty sure I didn't associate any particular acronym with the City of Pittsburgh. I doubt I even knew the airport code, having had no occasion I can recall to use the airport prior to moving here. I believe I did know, however, that Pitt was short for the University of Pittsburgh, since that was a sports thing.

Speaking of sports, it is probably true that Pittsburgh was shortened to PIT on scoreboards and such. But Detroit, where I am from, was typically shortened to DET, and that is not in fact an otherwise common way to refer to Detroit in the sense of NYC or LA. Same deal with CLE--I would know that was a reference to Cleveland, but I didn't know (and for that matter still don't know) of any habit of referring to Cleveland as CLE outside of certain very limited contexts.

So I am pretty confident in saying that I was NOT under the impression that Pittsburgh was generally known as PIT in the same way as a NYC or LA. And I strongly suspect that is true of most "outsiders" today.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

Right, right. When the discussion doesn't go the way you hoped you can just dismiss it as being too much for EVERYONE ELSE to grasp.

Good luck with that.

I'm LMAO @ the attitude!

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

In the Philadelphia Area, I've heard Pburgh more than Pitt. You have to keep in mind that even outside of a city's main sphere of influence, its preferred abbreviations can still vary on a regional basis.

That's what my husband calls it, but he is from OMA. For Beaver Falls, I suggest, BFS!

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

An "Outsider" is someone who's never lived breathed or experienced Pittsburgh dialect.....GET IT....NO YOU'RE NOT OUTSIDERS since this doesn't apply to you.

I haven't lived in Pittsburgh for over 20 years now but I'm not an "Outsider" since I'm a native who very accustomed to Pittsburgh dialect.

As you guys have shown you can't even put your minds into thought process of an Outsider. Anyway I'm done with this, this topic was just way too much for some people to grasp.

Frankly, I'm not really a Pittsburgher. I grew up in Cranberry Township. When people ask me where I'm from I give them my mailing address from when I was there.... Mars. I love the look on people's faces when I tell them I am from Mars. Then I tell them the zip code. And that's it's real.

Then I tell them Hubby is from Beaver.

Far more fun to tell them this than Pittsburgh. People don't generally have preconcieved notions about Mars and Beaver. I will tell them it's about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh. And it probably isn't -- but as we should know -- I am spacially challenged.