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Old 12-16-2013, 10:37 AM
 
458 posts, read 656,711 times
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Here's a terms that means something totally different in Pittsburgh............"Jitney"...............until I moved to Pittsburgh, a jitney was a forklift.
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Old 12-16-2013, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,080,646 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Q-tip motha View Post
Or just about anyone who went to help rebuild the south during reconstruction. School teachers, missionaries, abolitionists, etc. It is true that many of these people were opportunists with less than pure motives, but they too have their merits in rebuilding the south.
Hmmm... an interesting point. That isn't the case here in VA, but might be true in other parts of the south, especially the deep south. Here in the mid Atlantic, there were lots of people who had friends and family on both sides of the Potomac, so it wasn't that big of a deal to have people from the north arrive once the war ended. At the same time VA was devastated by carpetbagging (meaning strictly those people who took economic advantage) so that word has a very specific meaning here. Not a smart word to use in the older communities, especially those in the Shenandoah Valley, by the way.

At any rate--it was interesting to know that this wasn't some sort of special Pittsburgher term. Which was really what I was curious to know. I thought maybe I had come across an interesting bit of local slang.

Last edited by Caladium; 12-16-2013 at 11:00 AM..
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Old 12-16-2013, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,600,575 times
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I can blame having a nearly non-existent history education I suppose, but I had always been led to believe that "carpetbagger" was someone who was almost like a parasite---moving into an area to drain it of its vitality and then taking those benefits to their home without caring about what had happened to their former host. I suppose I was off-base a bit. Sorry. I didn't realize I had the meaning of the word juxtaposed a bit.

P.S. Caladium, calling NoVA "the South". Really? Perhaps in name only. There's nothing culturally "Southern" about Fairfax or Loudoun Counties. I lived there.
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:00 AM
 
Location: southwestern PA
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Pittsburghian Carpetbaggers could be a good band name...
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:05 AM
 
Location: Virginia
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Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
P.S. Caladium, calling NoVA "the South". Really? Perhaps in name only. There's nothing culturally "Southern" about Fairfax or Loudoun Counties. I lived there.
LOL, yes this is probably the only time I've called Virginia a southern state--I prefer Mid Atlantic. And certainly for any discussing pertaining to the past 150 ears I would use "Mid Atlantic." "The South" was only appropriate since we were talking about the Civil War and VA was on the southern side during that war.
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:07 AM
 
Location: Virginia
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Originally Posted by Pitt Chick View Post
Pittsburghian Carpetbaggers could be a good band name...
LOL LOL OK this may be my favorite post of the day. They would have a cool beat, too.
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:08 AM
 
Location: Virginia
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Originally Posted by WPANative View Post
Here's a terms that means something totally different in Pittsburgh............"Jitney"...............until I moved to Pittsburgh, a jitney was a forklift.
Oh, now I'm dying to know. What is it in Pittsburgh?
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
Oh, now I'm dying to know. What is it in Pittsburgh?
A jitney is a homemade taxi.
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:13 AM
 
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Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
A jitney is a homemade taxi.
Not really homemade, they're made in factories with other cars...

They're just non-registered/off-the-grid taxi drivers using their personal vehicles. Illegal.
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:19 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,080,646 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
I can blame having a nearly non-existent history education I suppose, but I had always been led to believe that "carpetbagger" was someone who was almost like a parasite---moving into an area to drain it of its vitality and then taking those benefits to their home without caring about what had happened to their former host. I suppose I was off-base a bit. Sorry. I didn't realize I had the meaning of the word juxtaposed a bit.
Well, you were close. A better example of possible carpet bagging in Pittsburgh may happen with fracking (although right now it seems like fracking might be a good deal for Pittsburgh). You could argue that carpetbagging is going on if you have companies that arrive in town, work to change local laws strictly so they can force people to sell land they don't want to sell (and other dubious laws created strictly so they make a quick profit). Especially if the revenue is sent out of state and they don't employ local residents.
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