Pittsburgh at Heart

I grew up 26 miles outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in Raccoon Township, Beaver County (yes it's alright to snicker). Both of my grandfathers worked the steel mills and my father worked for the airlines for 40 years before retiring.

Though I don't live in the area anymore, Pittsburgh is still a big part of me. I caught an article about TV shows being filmed or based in Pittsburgh yesterday. That turned out to be an interesting read. When I was a child the Steel Mill industry was still very active and Pittsburgh was not an attractive looking city. Over the past 30 years the city has been transformed and has, in my humble opinion, one of the best skylines ever.

What I found interesting is the quote about Pittsburghers in the article, "A Pittsburgher is "somebody who is more down to earth, somebody who is a little more tougher,"

We Pittsburghers have, at heart, no matter what our professions and where we go, a blue collar outlook on life, you work hard, you play hard, you take care of each other.

If you don't believe me on the play hard thing, watch the fans when a Pittsburgh Steelers or Penguins game is on tv.

We also have our own version of English that is quite a bit different that anywhere else. First off, when a group of Pittsburgh natives get together enunciation goes out the window. Words are slid together and often not pronounced correctly: East Liberty is Ee sliberty, a sandwich is a sammich. We also have a lot of our own words: yinz - you guys, read up -- clean up or ready up, jagger bush -- a bush with thorns, jag someone -- poke fun at someone, gum band -- rubber band, crick -- creek, nebby/neb nose -- a nosey or overly curious person. If you want to learn more check out Pittsburghese. We also know how to poke fun at ourselves. Check out Chipped Ham Sam a Yappin Yinzer doll

My English is quite clear now thank-you-very-much however, the roommate had knee surgery in Pittsburgh (150 miles from home) two weeks ago and I went with her for her follow up appointment on Monday. Both her and my other half looked at me toward the end of the day and said, "Boy, it doesn't take much, does it?" I asked what they meant and they pointed out that 5 minutes of talking to a Pittsburgher and my Pittsburghese came back loud and clear. I can't help it though (nor would I) because I am and will always be a Proud Pittsburgh native.