what does yinz mean in pittsburgh

What does yinz mean?

What does yinz mean? Yinz is a Pittsburgh equivalent to y'all. It is used to address two or more people as a second-person plural pronoun. Where does yinz come from?

Why are they called Yinzers?

"Yinzers" are so called because they speak a regional dialect of American English featuring the use of " yinz " or " yunz " as the second-person plural pronoun.

Where did the Pittsburgh yinz come from?

Barbara Johnstone — a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert in what’s called Pittsburghese— has located the Scots-Irish you ones as the source of the Pittsburgh yinz. You ones became pronounced as you-uns by the 1800s, further smushed to yinz, among other forms like yunz , by at least the 1980s.

What is yinzfans?

YinzFans.com is a Fan site for Pittsburgh sports fans located outside of the Pittsburgh area. At the end of every episode of "VH-1's Top 20 Countdown" host Jim Shearer always says "I'm Jim Shearer, and I'll see yinz later."

Why do they call Pittsburgh yinz?

Yinz is the most recent derivation from the original Scots-Irish form you ones or "yous ones", a form of the second person plural commonly heard in parts of Ulster. When standard-English speakers talk in the first person or third person, they use different pronouns to distinguish between singular and plural.

What are some Pittsburgh slang words?

Pittsburghese Dictionary: How to Talk Like a YinzerAht = out. Self explanatory.Buggy = shopping cart. ... Chipped-Chopped Ham (chipped ham) = processed lunch meat made from ham pieces, trimmings, and spices. ... Crik = creek. ... Dahntahn = Downtown. ... Dippy = appropriate level for dipping into. ... Gumband = rubber band. ... Jagoff = jerk.More items...•

How do you pronounce yinz?

3:284:46Yinz Guys! And other ways to address a group in American EnglishYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThis word is written different ways yinz we often say it in the phrase yin's.MoreThis word is written different ways yinz we often say it in the phrase yin's.

How do they say Y all in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburghers don't say “y'all/you'z/you all”…they say “yinz.”

What do they call soda in Pittsburgh?

popEssentially, in western Pennsylvania, saying "pop" is a part of claiming the greater region as home, as is saying "soda" in the east. Johnstone says the "soda"/"pop" divide is interesting in Pennsylvania because it's one of the only states to be split by the word choice.

What does slippy mean in Pittsburgh?

SlipperySlippy = Slippery “Careful: The sidewalk is slippy.”

What is a Pittsburgh accent called?

Western Pennsylvania English, known more narrowly as Pittsburgh English or popularly as Pittsburghese, is a dialect of American English native primarily to the western half of Pennsylvania, centered on the city of Pittsburgh, but potentially appearing in some speakers as far north as Erie County, as far west as ...

What is the Pittsburgh accent?

0:181:34How to Do a Pittsburgh Accent | Accent Training - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo the oral posture for a general Pittsburgh accent the tongue is pulled back and the tongue tipMoreSo the oral posture for a general Pittsburgh accent the tongue is pulled back and the tongue tip barely ever touches the roof of the mouth.

What does N at mean in Pittsburgh?

“and thatPittsburgh area residents also have a curious habit of tacking “n'at” at the end of their sentences. Translated, it means “and that” and really has no meaning beyond a kind of et cetera.

What food is Pittsburgh famous for?

While you're in the Burgh, be sure to check out these foods you'll only be able to find in the Steel City.Primanti Sandwich. No Pittsburgh food list would be complete without mentioning Primanti Bros. ... Pierogies. ... Pittsburgh Salad. ... Potato Patch Fries. ... Prantl's Burnt Almond Torte.

What is a person from Pittsburgh called?

Yinzer is a 20th-century term playing on the Pittsburghese second-person plural vernacular "yinz." The word is used among people who identify themselves with the city of Pittsburgh and its traditions.

What does 412 mean in slang?

This trio of digits is no longer just a telephone area code. It's an identity. The 412 is a catchy moniker for all things Pittsburgh and April 12 is the natural day to celebrate it. Nothing seems to legitimize a trend more than a social media hashtag so #412Day was born.

How do people from Pittsburgh speak?

Western Pennsylvania English, known more narrowly as Pittsburgh English or popularly as Pittsburghese, is a dialect of American English native primarily to the western half of Pennsylvania, centered on the city of Pittsburgh, but potentially appearing in some speakers as far north as Erie County, as far west as ...

How do you speak in Pittsburgh?

0:181:34How to Do a Pittsburgh Accent | Accent Training - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo the oral posture for a general Pittsburgh accent the tongue is pulled back and the tongue tipMoreSo the oral posture for a general Pittsburgh accent the tongue is pulled back and the tongue tip barely ever touches the roof of the mouth. So sounds like L.

Is Nebby a Pittsburgh word?

The holy trinity of iconic Pittsburgh words — yinz, jagoff and nebby — aren't going anywhere.

What does Gutchies mean?

Babushka (a headscarf), kolbassi (sausage), and gutchies (underwear), all are believed to have come from the Eastern Europeans. It is supposed that with all the different ethnic groups trying to learn the language at the same time, the pronunciations may have morphed into non-standard sounds.

What is a yinz?

Yinz is the most recent derivation from the original Scots-Irish form you ones or "yous ones", a form of the second person plural commonly heard in parts of Ulster. When standard-English speakers talk in the first person or third person, they use different pronouns to distinguish between singular and plural. In the first person, for example, speakers use the singular I and the plural we. But when speaking in the second person, you performs double duty as both the singular form and the plural form. Crozier (1984) suggests that during the 19th century, when many Irish speakers switched to speaking English, they filled this gap with you ones, primarily because Irish has a singular second-person pronoun, tú, as well as a plural form, sibh. The following, therefore, is the most likely path from you ones to yinz: you ones [juː wʌnz] > you'uns [juːʌnz] > youns [juːnz] > yunz [jʌnz] > yinz [jɪ̈nz]. Because there are still speakers who use each form, there is no stable second-person plural pronoun form in southwest or central Pennsylvania, which is why the pronoun is variably referred to or spelled as you'uns, y'ins, y'uns, yunz, yuns, yinz, yenz, yins or ynz .

What is Yinz Cheer?

Yinz 's place as one of Pennsylvania's most famous regionalisms makes it a badge of pride. For example, a group of Pittsburgh area radical cheerleaders call themselves "Yinz Cheer," and an area literary magazine was called The New Yinzer, a take-off of The New Yorker.

What is a yinztagram?

Yinztagram is a software program with a Pittsburgh theme.

Where is the yinz sign?

Yinz. "Yinz Are Welcome" sign at Occupy Pittsburgh in 2011. Yinz (see History and usage below for other spellings) is a second-person plural pronoun used mainly in Western Pennsylvania English, most prominently in Pittsburgh, but it is also found throughout the cultural region known as Appalachia, located within the geographical region ...

Who says "I'm Jim Shearer and I'll see yinz later"?

At the end of every episode of "VH-1's Top 20 Countdown" host Jim Shearer always says "I'm Jim Shearer, and I'll see yinz later."

Where is the word "yous" pronounced?

Rarely written, it is spelled yous, and is usually pronounced as [jɪ̈z] or something between [jɪ̈z] and [jʊ̈z].

Who created the Pittsburgh Speech and Society?

Pittsburgh Speech and Society A site for non-linguists, created by Carnegie Mellon University linguist Barbara Johnstone.

What is the meaning of "you ones" in Pennsylvania?

A western-Pennsylvania bastardization of the phrase "you ones", which addresses more than one person. Since we "western PA people" do things like slur words together, replace almost all vowel sounds with a " schwa " sound (the upsidedown e in the dictionary), replace long "a" sounds with long "e" sounds, and refuse to pronounce any "t" that isn't the first letter of a word, this became "you-ens", then " youns ", " yunz ", and finally "yinz". Someone must have put this particular pronunciation and spelling in print at some point, since it seems to be the most accepted way to say and write it.#N#The aforementioned characteristics of our accent are probably at least partly due to the diverse heritage of the population of this area, which is mostly made up of Italian, Irish, Polish, Native American, and African American people, NOT inbreeding, as someone in an earlier entry stated.#N#The word has become associated with Pittsburgh in particular, whose natives are commonly referred to as "yinzers".

What does Yinz mean?

Yinz means "You ones ," not " You guys ."

What does it mean to be bait?

bait. To be bait means that it is obvious that you are doing somthing that you shouldn't be doing. When Someone tells you to "stop being so bait" it means to be more SECRETIVE in what you are doing. Get the bait neck gaiter and mug.

What does Pittsburguese mean?

Pittsburguese for "you guys ." It actually doesn't combine any words together. It's not two words combined with letters taken out, which is common for Pittsburguese. It's just a made up word that stands for "you guys."

What is Pittsburghese language?

Pittsburghese developed among immigrant steelworkers from Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia. Derisively called “Polacks” and “Hunkies” by “old stock” Americans, they sought a language and identity that would provide solidarity against nativist prejudice. This was reinforced by the labor struggles of the 1930s and ’40s, which inspired previously competitive ethnic groups to band together for economic advancement. In his essay “On the eastern edge of the Heartland: Two industrial city dialects,” Thomas S. Donahue calls Pittsburghese a “koine,” a dialect formed in a melting pot of languages. To traditional Scots-Irish phrases such as “jag” for thorn and “redd up” for clean were added the Eastern European “babushka” and “pierogi.”

What is the terrible towel?

Cope conceived “The Terrible Towel,” a gold-colored rally cloth for Steelers fans to twirl over their heads. From his mouth, however, it came out as “The Terrible Tahhl.” Monophthongization— that is, turning a double-stepped vowel into a single sound—is a hallmark of Pittsburgh pronunciation. At work on “ow,” it transforms “downtown” to “dahntahn” and “house” to “hahs.” With long i, monophthongization makes “fire” sound like “fahr” and “Pirates” like “Pahrtz.” I heard the story of a Pittsburgh actor who was asked to say “tire iron” in a play. He found the line so difficult the director changed it to “crowbar.” Pittsburgh has changed dramatically since the 1980s. The Homestead Works, once the world’s largest steel mill, shut down in 1986, and was eventually replaced with a shopping mall—and the steel crisis changed the Pittsburgh accent. Men laid off by the mills were forced to move to the Sun Belt to find jobs. In their new hometowns, they realized they had funny accents, and toned them down to fit in with the neighbors. Instead of graduating from high school straight to the mills, the children of those who stayed behind went to college, where they met classmates from outside Pittsburgh, and were discouraged from using Pittsburghisms such as “yinz” and “n’ at.” The city became a destination for doctors, academics, and artists, not all of them Pittsburgh natives. As a result of these economic and demographic changes, Pittsburghese has been transformed from everyday speech to a legacy dialect used self-consciously to express local pride.

What is the nickname of the Buccos?

The Buccos: The Pirates (who adopted their nickname after being accused of stealing players from other teams). Short for “Buccaneers.”. The Burgh: Nickname for Pittsburgh. Gumband: A rubber band. A Pittsburgher who moves away then returns home is a “gumbander,” because he rebounded to his native city.

What is the Pittsburgh dialect?

And its neighborhoods were separated by hills and rivers, which discouraged social mixing. The prototypical Pittsburgh word is “yinz.”.

Who is the yinzer in Pittsburgh?

The archetypal Yinzer was Myron Cope.

Who banned Jagoff from the Pittsburgh Post?

In 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor David Shribman —a Massachusetts native— attracted local ridicule when he banned “jagoff” from his newspaper, despite being fully aware of its non-obscene provenance. Sweeper: Vacuum cleaner. The above is an excerpt from How to Speak Midwestern from Belt Publishing.

Who is the Yinzer?

The archetypal Yinzer was Myron Cope. Born to a Jewish family in 1929, he became an acclaimed journalist for Sports Illustrated and the Saturday Evening Post. Despite his professional advancement, Cope never lost his Pittsburgh accent. That was one reason the Steelers hired him in 1970 as a color commenter for their radio broadcasts. He held that job for 35 years and five Super Bowl victories, becoming in the process the voice of Pittsburghese. His commentary was nearly unintelligible to anyone outside western Pennsylvania, but his Yiddishkeit cries of “yoi!”, “double yoi!” and “triple yoi!” at thrilling plays became Pittsburgh catchphrases.

How to speak with a Pittsburghese accent?

If today's "yinzer" generation wants to speak with a Pittsburghese accent, "jist" try "speakin'" with less stress. Drop the "g" sound in words ending in "ing," remove the middle syllable from words like "slippery" and collapse multi-word expressions, like "going to" or "what do you want to do." That way, someone speaking Pittsburghese this winter might say, "It's gonna be snowin' and slippy out so wear some rubbers," or this spring might say, "Yunz goin' to the Pirates game or whatcha wanna do."

What is Pittsburgh's version of "you"?

But of all the idiomatic words and expressions, the one that most exemplifies "Pittsburghese" is that notorious version of "you," usually spelled and pronounced "yinz" by the current generation of self-described "yinzers."

Do Pittsburghese speak the accent?

In her interview with Mr. Hamill, Prof. Johnstone pointed out that the ubiquitous Pittsburghese has now become part of the city's "young, hip, urban culture" but often those who claim to speak Pittsburghese "know some of the words, but they don't have the accent.".

My grandfather was a Steel worker, and painted as a hobby. He didn't have canvas to work with, so you can still see the logos from the cardboard he used (image 2). This was painted from memory by him

My grandfather was a Steel worker, and painted as a hobby. He didn't have canvas to work with, so you can still see the logos from the cardboard he used (image 2). This was painted from memory by him.

Told my Cuban artist cousin about the sinkhole incident

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1. Mum used the sweeper to sweep up them crumbs

Now most of the world would consider that someone probably ate some toast on the caatch (couch)… and, well, you know the rest. But here in Pittsburgh… crumbs can be anything left on the floor. Pizza crust, crackers, cookies, staples, paper clips, fuzz from a dog toy, your old shoes… yeah… you get it.

4. Time to red up yer room

Don’t worry… mum doesn’t want you to paint over that beautiful purple, or green, or black and gold… she wants you to clean it up, straighten it out, live civilized. Now go do it.

8. Worsh up with that face rag on the sink

We went over “worsh” earlier. It’s a wash cloth. Um… sorry, a Worshcloth.

9. Who needs a ham sammitch? How about chip-chopped?

This one covers 2, so maybe our list should be “14 blah blah blah….” Whatever. Sammitch (or sammich – the debate rages on) is something between to slices of bread. Like turkey. Or ham.

10. It was too slippy dahn them stairs

If you don’t want to fall down and crack yer head, don’t go down the icy stairs. Get it?

11. Did yinz catch some crawfish dahn the crick?

Crawfish and crick. Crayfish and creek . Say the latter, well, a real Pittsburgher will correct you before answering. And yes. We did. Then we boiled ’em.

12. Did you turn off the spicket?

If you didn’t, dad will be pretty mad when you get home because the kitchen floor will be covered with water. Then you’ll have to red it up.

What does "pittsburgh" mean?

1. someone who overdoes pittsburgh using the "pittsburgh" accent. 2. a fairweather fan who wants to disban the team because of 1 bad week. 1. YINZER: jordan, we're going to meet up at the bar, meet us down there (pronounced down air) at 10.

What are some examples of yinzers?

Yinzers are the subject of a number of stereotypes, some of which they are actively proud and consciously reinforce to strengthen their sense of identity, an example being their use of French fries as a condiment.

Where does white trash come from?

White trash coming from Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding areas in western, PA, eastern, OH, and northeast WV. Very frequently inbred, under educated, and retarded, the yinzer is a simple breed, speaking in a dialect often referred to as " Pittsburghese ", characterized by the fictional word, " Yinz ". The Yinzer is a willfully ignorant species, fully believing that pittsburgh is the best city in america simply because said yinzer has never been more than 20 miles from pittsburgh.

What is psyop in law?

psyop. Intelligence agency term for "psychological operation". A government or corporate-sponsored operation, usually taking the form of a "terrorist attack" or "crazed gunman on a spree ", with the intent of panicking the public into demanding more police and laws inhibiting freedom.

How are psyops carried out?

Psyops are usually carried out by drugging a civilian or group of civilians with aggression-promoting drugs, psyching them up, arming them, and sending them out to commit mayhem. Government-sponsored terrorism. See also blackshirts, conspiracy. Person A: Man, that nutcase Martin Bryant guy shot 35 people in Tasmania !

What is a yinzer?

Yinzer. A provincial, typically residing in the western half of Pennsylvania (USA), who strongly identifies with the nearby city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, often due to a fervent, pseudo-religious loyalty toward one or more professional sports teams headquartered there. "Yinzers" are so called because they speak a regional dialect ...

Is Yinzer a willfully ignorant species?

The Yinzer is a willfully ignorant species, fully believing that pittsburgh is the best city in america simply because said yinzer has never been more than 20 miles from pittsburgh. Yinzer: "YInz gahn'a stilurz game dahn at hahnz fiild".

Overview

History and usage

In popular culture

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links