you want half a pahnd of what? pittsburghese is a dialect that sprang from accents and lazy tongues alike. i'm not the best speaker, but i can understand it quite well. i do let the occasional funny word slip out, so for the benefit of all involved, i'd like to translate some of my most often used vocabulary. trust me, it's really not that weird. people do talk like this, and we all get it! :P thanks to www.pittsburghese.com for the sound files. :) 1. yinz: pretty commonplace around pittsburgh AND northern west virginia, this is another way of saying "you" in the plural form... "what are yinz doin'?" 2. n'at: "...and that" would be the closest translation, but n'at is more of a syllable than a word of its own. Must be tacked onto a sentence, such as "for dinner, i'm eating chicken'n'at." click on the link to hear a sound file that incorporates terms 1 and 2. 3. get aht!: get out! as in, no way, you've got to be kidding! to make this sound, massage your cheeks for a while 'til they're really relaxed, then say it as if you don't care how it sounds. (and incidentally, if you hear someone saying this at a football game, you should probably run.) 4. arahnd, dahntahn, etc: yes folks, it applies to nearly every other word with the "ow" sound as well... just get used to it. 5. nebby: you know that person who is always trying to get into your business and find out what you're doing? that person is nebby. nebby means nosy, in western PA. 6. gumbands: apparantly, some people think that you need a rubber band to hold in a ponytail or keep your newspaper rolled up. but where i come from, it's called a gumband. 7. redd up: when i visit my grandpap and aunt, i sometimes help to redd up the table after dinner... this means clean things up, quite simply. 8. jumbo: ok, this one is NOT that hard! the first time my mom and i tried to order jumbo from the deli and the lady didn't know what we meant, we were flabbergasted. jumbo is, of course, bologna. in this quote, you're being asked to stop playing with your food. 9. the igloo: mellon arena, where the pittsburgh penguins play hockey. the arena is a giant silver dome that can open up to the night sky, so it's pretty aptly named. common terminology.

yes, everybody, despite the fact that i live in fairmont during summers and vacations, i am NOT from fairmont. no No NO! i, folks, despite what you may say about my place of residence, am from pittsburgh. ah, yes, da 'burgh. so many wonderous things to behold within, and so many things to learn. for example, i bet yinz don't know how many times a day you use gumbands, or how many times i've been to the igloo. look around, you might find something good here. :)