You can never get enough Pittsburghese. Here are 9 more to add to your collection of words. Show them how smart you really are!
1. Tahhrs (noun)
Tires, or what helps your car move. “Did yinz get your snow tahhrs on?”
2. Buggy (noun)
A shopping cart. Used in a sentence could be: “Can you grab me a buggy from Gint Iggle?”
3. Cahhch (noun)
A couch, as in “I got in trouble with the wife so I had to sleep on the cahhch last night.”
4. Jell (noun)
Jail. “Don’t do that, you don’t want to end up in jell!”
5. Cahhnty (noun)
County, or place of residence like Allegheny or Beaver cahhnties.
6. Fell (verb)
To fail. Used in a sentence, it could be “Too bad she felled the test.”
7. Roon (verb)
To ruin. “You’re going to roon your appetite eating that candy!”
8. Daht’et (phrase)
Doubt it, as in “Will you clean your room today? Daht’et.”
9. Tahhrd (adj.)
Tired. “I’m so tahhrd today, I was up all night!”
Here is our Pittsburghese Academy Collection…
9 Vocabulary Words in Every Pittsburghers Dictionary
9 Pittsburghese Words or Phrases in Every Pittsburghers Vocabulary
You forgot “Mill”
Noun: meal, as in breakfast lunch or dinner.
“As the waitress put the sandwich in front of me she told me to enjoy my mill.”
This is such fun. Grew up in the 30’s and 40’s and these pronunciations were common in the south side and the river towns along the Mon and the Yough. The East end and north side did not use these until well into the 60s.
I need to press off my clothes (iron).
CRICK. A running body of water: Creek.
“You’ll get wet if you fall in the crick.”
Towel or tile? Never could figure out what my hubby was asking for!
Didja run the sweeper??
How about “Redd Up” like you have red up your room
Out in the light. yinz
I thought it was outten the light . “turn the light out or off.
Whatcha doin? Like saying, what are you doing?
After graduation, I moved away from Pittsburgh. But I remember all those words. And I remember when I got hungry, I would ask my friends, “jeet yet?” And never thought it was any different then the way everyone said it everywhere.
Hair Catch instead of barrettes
Not many would ask if you’re going to clean you room today. It would be when are you gonna rid up dis mess?
Then it would be daht’t
Moved to Chicago after honeymoon, first job I had I asked where are the “gumbands”..WHAT????
Gumbands is only a PGH word.
My first venture away from Pittsburgh was in the early 50’s for a summer job in Washington, DC. I can still remember the reaction of my co-workers when I said I needed to “worsh” clothes.
I was in New York visiting family and we went to the Deli. I asked for a pound of Jumbo and ChipChop ham….
The guy behind the counter said, “Why kind of Jumbo Ham? What are you talking about?”
They call Bologna Baloney and they don’t have Chipped Ham, Just SHAVED Ham.