Learn Pittsburghese

The following comes from the book, “The Tonuge – in – Cheek Guide to Pittsburgh Volume 1”   Pittburghese is that special language within a language that is unique to Pittsburgh.   Aht – A Pittsburgher’s way of saying out, as in: “Don’t wait dinner for me honey, I’m going aht for a walk.” All the further – One of the things Pittsburghers love the most is the word all. Pittsburghers use all in many strange ways. To making up an entire phrase revolving around that universal word. Example- “I started driving to Philadelphia but it began to snow and Harrisburg was all the further I got.” Anymore – A rather confusing construction which doesn’t mean any, or more, or even anymore. Instead it means nowadays, or currently, or these days. It almost always occurs as the first word of a sentence, as in this example: “Anymore, the traffic on Liberty Avenue moves so slowly, it’s quicker to walk.” Buggy – 1. Full of bugs, as in “I left an open box of cereal on the counter for two days and now it is all buggy.” 2. A little crazy, as in “It was 92 degrees in the shade and John went into the field to cut down that big apple tree, He must be buggy.” 3. Something used to carry babies. 4. One of those metal or plastic 4-wheel shopping carts available in supermarkets for gathering groceries. Chipped Ham – This is a Pittsburgh “delicacy” which is made by taking one of those large, rectangular pinkish-gray hams and is chopped and shredded so you can make sammiches with a big lump in the center. See also: sammich. Comere – A Pittsburgh quick “Come here” is comere. Crick – The use of crick for creek is not restricted to our neighbors down South. Crookit –That’s what most politicians and all dogs’ hind legs are. If you think crookit sounds funny, try saying crookit crick three times fast. D – Pittsburghers have a lot of strange likes and dislikes. One dislike is the letter D, especially when it is in the middle of a word. They simply invoke one of the laws of English pronunciation and make the D’s silent. Hence couldn’t becomes cooun’t, wouldn’t becomes wooun’t, and everyone’s favorite, didn’t becomes din’t. Dahntahn – Equals Downtown. Dan’-dee-lion – Little yellow weeds that pop up all over Pittsburgh when Spring weather graces the City. Dill – Deal, as in: “Let’s make a dill.” And, “Boy, do I have a dill for you.” Djeatyet? Nodju? – No this not Polish or Ukranian. It’s those Pittsburghers again, spitting out syllables as fast as they can and losing half of them in the process. Complete translation: Djeatyet? = Question: “Did you eat yet?” Nodju? = Answer: “No. Did you?” Gahed – Say it fast in Pittsburgh and it’s not go ahead, but rather gahed. Garaj – A place that Pittsburghers can park their cars. Gedaht! – A shortened form of gedahtahere! An exclamation of surprise, synonomous with such equally colorful phrases as, “Gee whiz!” “No kidding!” and the ever popular, “No shit!” Get a bath – In most other places people take baths and showers, in Pittsburgh, people get them. Gumban – A word which, if said slowly, would be heard as gum band. Which is a Pittsburgher’s term for what Easterners (and most of the world) call a rubber band. Haffing – Usually used in connection with the word “to,” as in: “I sent my payment in by mail, so I could settle up my account without haffing to go there.” Hoagy – What everyone in Pittsburgh calls a submarine sammich. See also sammich. How big of a – Sometimes Pittsburghers just don’t know when to stop during a sentence – they include one or two unnecessary words. Example – “I caught a really big fish on the lake yesterday,” should be “Oh, how big a fish was it?” But in Pittsburgh, the response is “How big of a fish was it?” Ignernt – To everyone else the word ignorant means uninformed or lacking in knowledge. But in Pittsburgh ignernt means rude. Jag, jag around – To tease, joke around, torment (usually) in a friendly way. Jagger – A sharp spine that grows on flowers and plants such as roses and cacti. Jagger is a much more interesting word than the word – thorn – for which it substitutes. Consider these possibilities..... A certain famous author might have titled his well known novel, “The Jagger Birds.” Will Shakespeare would have said, “Leave her to heaven. And to these jaggers that in her bosom lodge, To prick and sting her.” William Jennings Bryan might have said, “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of jaggers.” Keller – This is the Pittsburgh pronunciation of the word color. Ken – Can as said by a Pittsburgher, as in: “Ken you come with me?” Left – There go them Pittsburghers again, adding letters in strange places. You see, when some Pittsburghers say “I left him in,” they don’t mean that “he” was already inside, and they allowed him to stay there. Instead they mean “he” was outside and they allowed him to enter. When and why the f was added to let turning it into left is unknown. Lie’-berry – All over the United States it is called a library; in Pittsburgh it is called a lieberry. Meer – A bright, silvery object, made in all shapes and sizes, allowing one to see his/her reflection. Mill – 1. A place where steel was made in Pittsburgh. 2. A selection of food served at a table. Nebby – A mildly chiding word, nebby is one of those quintessential Pittsburgh words and means nosey. Nuh-uhh’ – Like its cousin, Yuh-huh’, this word, if you want to call it that, means no. Pitcher – A pitcher (ceramic with handles), or a pitcher (flesh and blood, with bat), or in Pittsburgh, a pitcher (photograph, black and white or color). Pop – A Pittsburgher’s word for what folks from the East call soda – a carbonated, usually flavored, beverage. Putzie, putzie around – A phrase which means putter around. Redd up – It is the Pennsylvania Dutch we owe for one of the most common Pittsburghese phrases – redd up – which means to tidy up or clean up, as in, “Company’s coming. I’d better redd up the kitchen.” Redlight – As far as Pittsburghers are concerned, Pittsburgh has no intersections and no traffic lights – or at least no traffic lights of the green or yellow persuasion. Pittsburgh only has red traffic lights. So all directions are given in terms of redlights, as in “Go two blocks to the redlight, hang a left, go one more block then make another left at the redlight and you’re there.” Rillize – It’s too hard for Pittsburghers to say ree’-a-lize so they say rillize instead. Sammich – An edible product known else where as a sandwich. Sec’-a-terry – One of Pittsburghers’ more well known dislikes is the letter R, especially when it appears after a consonant, or, God forbid, after another R. Secaterry is the well known verion of secretary. Shahrs – Stumped? Just remember this oft quoted phrase: “April shahrs bring May flahrs.” Slippy – Many perfectly sensible Pittsburghers say slippy instead of slippery. Stillers – Pittsburgh’s resident football team, Steelers. Tamaydas – Those round, red things that all parents know are vegetables.... until their smart aleck kids come home from college and announce, with an air of superiority, that, botanically speaking, they are really fruit. Those ones – A peculiar (and sometimes annoying) grammatical construction in which Pittsburghers add something to a sentence instead of taking it away. Accustomed to the presence of a noun after a word those (as in: those cars, those guys, those buildings...) they feel obliged to put something after the word those, even when nothing is needed. To be – Two words which are as extinct as the Dodo Bird in the vocabulary of most Pittsburghers who say such things as “The car needs fixed,” instead of “The car needs to be fixed.” Wait on – Similiar to the phrase waiting dinner, wait on means wait for as in “What took you so long to get back? I’ve been waiting on you for half an hour.” Worsh – As a noun, it’s the stuff that goes in the washing machine when it’s dirty. As a verb (to worsh) it’s what you do with all that stuff once it gets into the washing machine. Yunz – Quintessential Pittsburghese, and the bane of Pittsburgh educators, this is the word that sets Pittsburghers apart from everyone else in the world. It is also – and how appropiate – an apperent contradiction in terms. As explained under those ones, Pittsburghers add the words ones even when no word is needed. Thus yunz is said to be a contraction of you and ones, a sort of Northern y’all.