| expressions |
|---|
| pennsylvanian | Everyone Else | examples/remarks |
| alls | all (the only thing) | "Alls you have to do..." |
| bath | bathe | To give a bath to: "Last night, I had to bath the dog." |
| cattywumpus | catty-cornered, diagonally across | "That building is cattywumpus from the Post Office." |
| close | humid | "It feels really close outside today." |
| cut | slice | Used in the context of pizza: "A cut of pizza". Believed to come from the practice of baking pizzas in rectangular pans and cutting them into squares for serving. (Central PA is one place pizzas are called pies. That doesn't happen everywhere. Also, pepperoni is a mandatory topping. A so-called "plain" pizza is assumed to have pepperoni on it.)
|
| daresn't | dare not, don't dare | Something I hear fairly often from Becky. "I daresn't tell Bob I wrecked his car." |
| gum band | rubber band, elastic band | "He put a gum band around the newspaper." Appears as "gumban" in Pittsburgh. (courtesy of Jennifer Soldner) |
| hoagie | submarine sandwich, hero, etc. | Quite possibly the most widely-used fundraising sale item. Italian Dressing is mandatory here. |
| how'zcome | how come, why | "How'zcome you can't stay home?" |
| ignorant | rude | "I asked him for directions and he was ignorant with me." |
| I'm all over | I'm covered with | Becky says: "I'm all over cat hair." |
| in one's road | in one's way | "I couldn't get out of the room; everybody was in my road." |
| leave | let | "Hold on tight and don't leave go." |
| let | leave | "When you're finished with the book, please let it on the table." |
| left go | let go, laid off | "He worked there for 20 years and they left him go." |
| lozenger | lozenge | "My throat's real sore so
I'll take a lozenger." (submitted by Frank Nussbaum) |
| nebbing | meddling, nosy | "She was always nebbing in everybody's business." |
| needs fixed | needs to be fixed, needs fixing | Biggest and most egregious liberty taken with English grammar. Infinitive to be or -ing participle totally left out (let out?) Also used in any similar sentence structure: "The car needs washed." "Do you want paid for your work?" See newspaper clipping graphic below. |
| redd up | straighten up, clean up, make ready | "How many times do I have to tell yunz to Redd up your room?" "I'll need to redd up after dinner." |
| slippy | slippery, slick | "Watch out if you walk over there; it's a little slippy." I actually heard Dennis Miller (from Pittsburgh) say this on a prime-time Emmy Awards broadcast he hosted. |
| takes me busy | all I can do | "It takes me busy to keep up with the cleaning and laundry." One of Becky's favorites. |
| trick | work shift | "He was working second trick last night." |
| what'fer | what | "What'fer golf club you
gonna use on this hole?" (submitted by Frank Nussbaum) |
| yunz | you | All-time number one, most used regionalism. I've heard it from a waitress in Lancaster: "What would yunz like?" Also prevalent in Pittsburgh. Possibly a shortening of you'uns, or an attempt to make up a different, unique word for the plural form of the second-person pronoun you, which is, of course, you in both singular and plural. People who make fun of it draw attention to it locally by saying something like "yunzes" or "yinziz". Actually, my contention is that yunz is Pennsylvanian for y'all. |
