Pittsburghese :) (Altoona, McKeesport, Midland: house, steel, accent)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I think it's common for questions to go up hill, not a Pittsburgh thing -- unless I'm missing something.

Some of the young ones out here use the uphill inflection for EVERYTHING -- so it makes everything they say sound like a question.

I'm guilty of 'uphill' questions. Someone once explained what Pittsburgher's do that's different. Everyone rises in pitch at the end of questions, but we word our questions as statements, but go up in pitch at the end. For instance, we'll say "You're going to the STORE?" with the rise in pitch at the end. We completely drop the ARE at the beginning of the question and rise in pitch at the end to form the question. It's odd to people who aren't from Pittsburgh because it doesn't sound like we're asking questions, it sounds like we're making a statement. The rise in pitch at the end of the sentence is the only clue that we're asking a question.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I'm guilty of 'uphill' questions. Someone once explained what Pittsburgher's do that's different. Everyone rises in pitch at the end of questions, but we word our questions as statements, but go up in pitch at the end. For instance, we'll say "You're going to the STORE?" with the rise in pitch at the end. We completely drop the ARE at the beginning of the question and rise in pitch at the end to form the question. It's odd to people who aren't from Pittsburgh because it doesn't sound like we're asking questions, it sounds like we're making a statement. The rise in pitch at the end of the sentence is the only clue that we're asking a question.

Oh, so our syntax is goofy. That makes sense.

Oh, jeez... add that to my PA Dutch/mountain influence, and I am screwed!

Years ago, I had a customer who was from Iran, who I messed up with Pittsburghese -- specifcally the word gum bands.... we had tons and always gave him gum bands when he asked -- but after me he started asked for gumrubbers.

On the upside he was teaching me to count in Farsi.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I honestly have never heard ANYONE say 'redd up' in my entire life. I just know what it means from internet discussions about Pittsburghese. I have NO IDEA what nebby means either. I've never heard it. I'll confess to knowing what gumband and jagoff means, but I can't recall the last time anyone said it. I guess people don't tell me where to put things because I've never heard 'put dat right der' either. I'm mostly guilty of dropping 'to be' and 'the.' As for an outright accent, I don't have one because we moved all over the world when I was young.

I've heard both "redd up" and "nebby" many times, also gumband and jagoff. I grew up in Beaver Falls (according to that website, "Beer Falls"). When I was in nursing school at Pitt, we learned that the medical (Latin?) term for "nose" is "neb", hence the expression, "don't be so nebby", means "don't be so nosey". Actually, some people in Beaver Falls pronounced it Be er (two syllables) Falls, when I was a kid. I used to drop "to be" until my ex-husband got on my case about it. There are a lot of good reasons he is the ex, that's just one!

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

I use NEBBY constantly. I can't stand NEBBY people...ugh!

[Tinare]

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I didn't even know that "to be" was necessary with "needs" until I was in college. And I went to a good high school and had good English teachers. If it was taught to us, it just wasn't stressed at all, and no one I knew spoke that phrase properly. I went to Penn State and the grad student who taught my freshman English class was very interested in regional dialects. Her first day ice breaker was to start the class by discussing all of the regional PA accents, quirks and differences, of which that was one. She also asked someone from Philly to pronounce the words, "Mary, Merry and Marry" which all sound slightly different, and then someone from Pittsburgh who, of course, said them all the same. And there was the "youze and yinz" discussion and she had a northeastern PA person count out "one, two, tree" for us. "Pop" versus "Soda", etc. I think a lot of folks cringe when they hear the local accent rather than appreciating the flavor it adds to language. That class was a mainly writing class, but it was interesting to have a discussion with someone who was studying and appreciating accents and colloquialisms rather than viewing them as substandard English.
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[aveojohn]

Here ya go- Pittsburgh English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by aveojohn

Here ya go- Pittsburgh English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great link. That really sums up what everyone has been saying and explains it's origins.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Tinare

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I didn't even know that "to be" was necessary with "needs" until I was in college. And I went to a good high school and had good English teachers. If it was taught to us, it just wasn't stressed at all, and no one I knew spoke that phrase properly. I went to Penn State and the grad student who taught my freshman English class was very interested in regional dialects. Her first day ice breaker was to start the class by discussing all of the regional PA accents, quirks and differences, of which that was one. She also asked someone from Philly to pronounce the words, "Mary, Merry and Marry" which all sound slightly different, and then someone from Pittsburgh who, of course, said them all the same. And there was the "youze and yinz" discussion and she had a northeastern PA person count out "one, two, tree" for us. "Pop" versus "Soda", etc. I think a lot of folks cringe when they hear the local accent rather than appreciating the flavor it adds to language. That class was a mainly writing class, but it was interesting to have a discussion with someone who was studying and appreciating accents and colloquialisms rather than viewing them as substandard English.
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One of the first things I learned in my creative writing class was that "to be" was passive voice and a no-no in fiction writing because it slowed things down.

It's not incorrect -- it's sort of *too* correct.

So being from Pittsburgh really helped in that one! And count me in on one of those who appreciates accents of all kinds.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

Great link. That really sums up what everyone has been saying and explains it's origins.

Yea, I knew it had a Scotch Irish connection.

[Pureblood]

Sounds a lot like the central pennsylvania accent... Except i never heard Nebby or jagoff... But we use red up and drop to be. Here is a link.. Central Pennsylvania accent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia