We Pittsburghers know that we have our own language called “Pittsburghese.” We’re harassed over our accent everywhere we go, but at least we're unique.
Plus, I don’t see Cleveland having their own language; am I right, Stiller fans?
1. “Go red up your room.”
It means go clean up your room, for those of you who actually think we mean to paint your room the color red.
2. “Grab the sweeper and clean up those crumbs.”
Everything is a crumb, whether it's a cracker or a piece of cheese that fell on the floor, and grabbing the sweeper, or a vacuum cleaner, as most know it, is the only solution. Unless you have a dog, then they can handle it.
3. “I need a chipped-chopped ham sammitch.”
Chipped-chopped ham is the classic, thinly-sliced ham made up of chunks and trimmings, and when you’re at a Pittsburgh barbeque party, ham barbeque “sammitches” are always there, made with only Heinz ketchup, of course!
4. “Yinz are a buncha jag-offs.”
Yinz is our way of saying you all, and calling you a jag-off is basically the same insult as being called a jerk.
5. “Watch your step, it’s slippy.”
If you haven’t noticed, Pittsburghers tend to leave out a few letters when they’re talking, and most of us didn’t know “slippy” actually was pronounced “slippery” until middle school.
6. “We caught some crawfish dahn at the crick.”
Some know it as crayfish, but we call it crawfish. And when we catch our freshwater lobsters, we catch them in the crick, not the creek.
7. “Hey, come mere.”
The ‘m’ at the end of come becomes the sound for the ‘h’ at the beginning of here. And you thought people only said this phrase when they were drunk.
8. “Are you goin' dahn to the souside?”
Like I said before, we don’t really ever pronounce all of the letters in a word, and we tend to over exaggerate some vowels too.
9. “Stop being so nebby.”
This phrase can also be used if you’re calling some a “neb nose.” It means to mind your own business, okay?
10. “Worsh your clothes.”
We will never understand why a random ‘r’ shows up in the word wash, but if you’re from Pittsburgh, you know that “worshing” your clothes is the only way your grandparents will ever refer the real word 'washing.'
11. “Pass me the clicker.”
Most people don’t get why we call a remote controller a clicker, but it makes perfect sense. We’re clicking buttons, aren’t we?
12. “Get that face rag out of the cupboard.”
Some call it a washcloth; we call it a face rag. It makes total sense when the smaller towels are usually used on our face.
13. “Grab a few of them gum bands for your braids.”
Every child in Pittsburgh thought the word “gum band” sounded delicious. Usually it is referred to a rubber band, but in Pittsburgh, we even use the word gum band to refer to the ponytails we put in our hair.
14. “Pull your pants up, I can see your gutcheez!”
No one ever really understands why their grandma, or “Bubba,” since we’re from Pittsburgh, called underwear gutcheez.
15. “Add some jumbo to that Italian hoagie.”
When you hear jumbo, you probably automatically think it’s referring to something that’s pretty big, but not in Pittsburgh! Jumbo is just another word for bologna, and subs are for New Yorkers, we eat hoagies.
16. “I ripped my pants on that jaggerbush.”
We call anything with thorns on it a jaggerbush, whether it’s a rose bush, a torn bush, or a holly shrub.
17. “You want a lickin’?”
You’ve probably heard of getting a “whoopin’,” and either way you put it, you’re still getting your butt smacked.
18. “Turn off that spicket in the kitchen.”
The spicket is the water faucet of the sink, but unlike the word faucet that is also used for the bathtub, spicket is only used when referring to a sink.
Every true Pittsburgher embraces their inner "yinzer," even though they know it can make them sound a bit unintelligent, and if you haven't noticed, most of these phrases are commands. We use words that no one understands, but it's because we grew up with our rough and tough Polish and Slovakian ancestors.
So grab yourself an I.C. Light beer with a Primanti Bros. sammitch, and may the Pittsburghese dialect live on forever!
