A brief look into the Pittsburgh dialect
If you aren't a native of Pittsburgh, you may think you've reached a foreign land listening to conversations. Yinz goin' to 'da Stiller game? is a phrase that is often heard throughout the hills and valleys of the western region of Pennsylvania.No one is sure where Pittsburghese came from. Much of it is the ethnic mix of Pittsburgh, which is really a quintessential melting pot of the gateway to the west. The city has Germans, Poles, Italians, Slovaks and a dozen other nationalities that all settled where the three rivers come together.The deepest-rooted traditions of Pittsburghese can be heard in the steel towns on the outlying edge of the city, near the Monongahela River in what is commonly referred to as the Mon Valley.These local idioms are pervasive in all sections of Pittsburgh culture, however, not just in the mill towns.Children have always been told to redd up their room. To an outsider that means nothing. To a Pittsburgher, it means the child will have to clean his or her bedroom. When the floor 'needs swept' mom pulls out the sweeper. To those who are not familiar with the native tongue that means mom uses the vacuum to "sweep" the floor.
Though this may stand as a falsehood, there are some reports that people who move to the region actually want to learn the language. With the decline in population, Pittsburghese has spread to other cultures, though in smaller numbers. Shops have begun opening up across the country selling Pittsburgh items such as t-shirts and shot glasses that proclaim many of Pittsburgh's most famous words and phrases. Ask for a soda in Pittsburgh, and chances are a comment will be made. In any grammar book across the country, it would read, "the car needs to be washed. The language continues to be spoken for many reasons, one of which is the tradition. It has been said that as Pittsburgh's population slowly declines, the use of Pittsburghese increases. The language will continue to be part of the Pittsburgh region until there is no longer a Pittsburgh region. Signs in a new mall in the Pittsburgh area proclaim the "jeet jet" phrase on its food court banners. ed previously, in the olden day, Pittsburgh was the region where folks from all over the world settled. Words like pop and hoagie can be heard in restaurants in other regions without batting an eye. As interesting as that sounds, it may in fact be one of the easiest dialects to learn. From Polish Hill to Squirrel Hill, and from Aliquippa to Connellsville, the language spoken is a tradition rooted in the hearts, and mouths, of all Pittsburghers. One thing is for sure, "yinz guys" will know a Pittsburgher once they open their mouth. Pittsburgh has its own language, just as many other cultures in the world do.
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Acceptance Essays
