Accents and regional dialects are funny things. They are among those characteristics that you really don't pick up on until you've left home. And even then, only certain accents can truly be picked out of a crowd. I know that I personally, having grown up in Northern Pennsyl-tucky, would be hard-pressed to come up with a word or phrase that is specific to my area. Obviously some must exist, since everyone has their special ticks when it comes to language, but I can't say that I can really think of any big ones. Most of the things I get ridiculed for come from my personal issue with logically connecting sounds and not because of a dialect. (I often just accept a string of letters as a word that I will recognize throughout a book but never actually attempt to pronounce it in my head, causing a good laugh for my friends when I actually have to say it out loud.) About the only things I can really come up with is the fact that a large portion of my home area really likes to emphasize the I in Italian and the fact that the town my parents live in is spelled Milan but pronounced My-lan. Although the mispronunciation of well known names is really a statewide issue. Probably two of most well known dialects that Pennsylvania has are the Philly and Pittsburgh accents. And even though these two cities are only roughly five hours away, they really are completely separate species: different sounds, different inflections, and even different meanings for the same word (if I remember the rants right, a Pittsburgh hoagie is not the same thing as a Philly hoagie). The fact that Pennsylvania has such diverse accents within it's borders is actually still fascinating people, with a relatively recent article about it on Slate's website. Although I'm sure I could attempt a comparison between the two dialects, since I managed to really only befriend people from Philly when I came out to Pittsburgh for college, I thought I would quickly look at my real lack of experience with Pittsburghese. Despite the fact that my dad is originally from West Mifflin and my grandfather was a true blue collar man, I can't say I really recall hearing much of the fabled Pittsburghese growing up. My dad would occasionally have "worsh," "slippy," and "having to red up the house" slide into conversations, but otherwise Pittsburghese was just something I would see on souvenirs. A fascinating collection of words that I would look for but rarely ever hear. I don't think I came across my first "yinz" in a conversation until I was working full time, and even that was a truly limited thing. And while I'm certainly not alone wondering how often people use these accepted local phrases, it certainly has become a defining feature for the city. Searching for tonight's sticker and phrase ultimately just shows the variety of ways people use "yinz" to show their support for the city. Bumper stickers, shirts, shop names, and even an organization started by a teen in 2014 are among the many ways you see "yinz" represented. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find this particular sticker, well other than different people's photographs of it. But I think what really makes this sticker interesting is the fact that just by reading this phrase, I can come up with three possible interpretations for it. Read one way, "Keep Pittsburgh Yinz!" could be a call to action to keep the city clean. The creator trying to get you to pick up after yourself, get involved in promoting the environment, and show your pride in the area. Or it could be looking to prevent the loss of "yinz" from the local lexicon. While there is certainly a lot of kitschy things out there using "yinz," it certainly isn't a widely used term. So this might be trying to promote it as a sense of Pittsburgh heritage. But there is also the possibility that the sticker is looking to stymie the influx of outsiders. Since the loss of the steel industry, Pittsburgh has certainly switched it's focus to promoting technology and the various universities, bringing in a younger crowd. This could very well be a call to keep the city's blue collar roots and keep it a "yinzer" population. Any way you look at it though, it is certainly trying to get you to do something... I'm just not sure what.
1 Comment
Teresa Ondrey
8/17/2017 10:43:29 pm
Well done! Well written!
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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