Justin Kownacki, John Carman, and Jim Russell schooled me in Pittsburghese, the local dialect in Iron City. This video focuses on the phrase “Yinz” which, if you read the Wikipedia article you will learn yinz is derived from “You ones”, which became “Y’uns”, which finally became “Yinz”. If you want to get really deep, check out what the Pittsburghese scholars at Carnegie Mellon have to say, that is if yinz rilly wanna.

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Pittsburgh Slim Music, Videos, Fan Site » Blog Archive » Pittsburgh Diary 3: Yinz Explained. Quick Pittsburghese Lesson // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:29 pm
[…] Jonny added an interesting post on Pittsburgh Diary 3: Yinz Explained. Quick Pittsburghese Lesson […]
Jason Robb // Oct 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thank yin for the video, that was enjoyable!
John R. Carman // Oct 19, 2008 at 9:51 pm
ats funny n’at.
Justin Kownacki // Oct 19, 2008 at 10:10 pm
My hair is filing a restraining order against my scalp.
Jen // Oct 20, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Yinz goin’ dahntahn to da Boul’vard d’Allies ta get a sammich n’at? Yeah?
A while back, NPR did a story on Pittsburghese and spoke with a few linguists who were really concerned that Pittsburghese was a dying dialect since younger generations of Pittsburghers were abandoning it.
I’m from a small town near WV where Pittsburghese goes a bit further and branches with Appalachian dialects. Yikes. When I moved into the city, I really thought a couple of my coworkers were from Brooklyn, NY. Nope, they were lifelong residents of Swissvale.
Have you seen www.pittsburghese.com?
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