Pittsburghese is what we call it. It's that special language-within-a-language that is unique to Pittsburgh. Oh sure, people in Boston and Brooklyn and Tupelo talk "funny" too. But Pittsburghese is different. Pittsburghese is words that don't seem to exist anywhere else, words that we think we've heard elsewhere(but we're not quite sure), and of course, those special Pittsburgh-only words. Some people might call it a dialect. Others may call it regional English. But to all of us, it's just plain Pittsburghese. Here, for your edification and amusement is a dictionary of Pittsburghese.
*NOTE* A lot of these definitions (and the above introduction) are from Ken and Jakie Abel's "The Toungue-in-Cheek Guide to Pittsburgh". A round of applause to all Pittsburghers (not excluding myself) who made this dictionary possible. "A
Ahia-Our neighboring state to the west.
Aht-A Pittsburgher's way of saying out, as in "Don't wait dinner for me honey, I'm going aht for a walk."
Alls-An example of grammatical construction peculiar to Pittsburgh in which a letter of the alphabet is added to a word for no apparent reason. Alls means the same as all. For example: "We may have to go out to dinner tonight; alls I have left in the refrigerator is some stale bread and an open jar of strawberry jelly."
All the further-A complete phrase designed around the word all, as in "I started driving to Philadelphia but it started to snow and Harrisburg was all the further I got."
Anat-A combination of two words that means and that.
Anymore-A rather confusing construction which doesn't mean any, or more, or even anymore. Instead, it means nowadays, or currently, or these days. It almost always occurs as the first word of a sentence, as in this example: "Anymore, the traffic on Liberty Avenue moves so slow, it's quicker to walk."

B
Bloomfilled-You've heard of the Field of Dreams and the Killing Fields. And even Forbes Field and Sally Field. This is a field of flowers, or blooms. Hence the name Bloomfield(as they call it in Harrisburg) or Bloomfilled(as they call it in Pittsburgh). Actually we don't know if there are any flowers in Bloomfilled, so just drive down to this well known Pittsburgh neighborhood and you can find out for yourself.

C
Catch up-What Pittsburghers put on their hotdogs and french fries.
Cleveland-What most Pittsburghers think of when asked to describe how bad Pittsburgh used to be.
Comere-A Pittsburgh "quickie". Come here, said quickly, is comere. See also: Gahed.
Crick-The way a Pittsburgher says creek.
Crookit-That's what most politicians and all dogs' hind legs are.

D
D-Pittsburghers have a lot of strange likes and dislikes. One dislike is the letter D, especially when it is in the middle of a word, next to another consonant. Being non-violent, for the most part, Pittsburghers do not rely on force to eliminate those offensive D's; instead they simply invoke one of the laws of English pronunciation and make the D's silent. Hence, couldn't becomes cooun't, wouldn't becomes wooun't, and everyone's all time favorite, didn't becomes din't.
Dahntahn-The way a Pittsburgher says downtown.
Dill-You know, as in "Let's make a dill" and "Boy, have I got a dill for you."
Djeatyet? Nodju?-Polish? Ukrainian? No, it's those Pittsburghers again, spitting out syllables as fast as they can and losing half of them in the process. It really means "Did you eat yet" "No. Did you?"
Don-The opposite of up.
Drug-It's not something we should "just say no" too. It's simply the past tense of the word drag.

E


F


G
Gahed-Say it quick in Pittsburgh and it's not go ahead, but rather gahed. See also: Comere
Gedaht!-A shortened form of Gedahtahere!, this exclamation is not something you yell at the dog when it makes a mess on the rug, but rather an exclamation of surprise, with synonyms such as "I didn't know that," "Really?", and "No kidding."
Going for-This phrase is used in conjunction with the time, as in "You'd better hurry or you'll be late for work. It's going for eight o' clock."
Greenfilled-A Pittsburgh neighborhood, adjacent to Scroll Hill, which is very urban and thus has few fields and very little green.
Green Tree Hill-A thermometer stuck in Pittsburgh's backside which measures automotive congestion by the degree to which it is covered with traffic.
Gumban-A word which, if said slowly, would be heard as gum band, which is what everyone else in the world calls a rubber band.

H
Haffing-Usually used in connection with the word to, as in "I sent my payment in by mail, so I could settle up my account without haffing to go there."
Hans-Something that Pittsburghers have two of and on each of them there are five fingers.
How big of a-This phrase is sort of like those ones, in that sometimes Pittsburghers just don't know when to atop during a sentencs-they include one or two unnecessary words. The response to "I caught a really big fish on the lake yesterday," should be, "Oh, how big a fish was it?" But in Pittsburgh, the response is "How big of a fish was it?"

I
Ignernt-Here's a word guaranteed to confuse any new arrival to Pittsburgh. To everyone else the word ignorant(whence ignernt derives) means uninformed or lacking in knowledge. But in Pittsburgh, ignernt means rude.
Ink pen-Although there's really no reason to announce what's inside a pen, Pittsburghers do anyway. Instead of asking for just a pen, they ask for an ink pen.

J
Jagger-The way a Pittsburgh says thorn.
Jagoff-Unpleasant individulal, or jerk.

K
Kairk-The way Pittsburghers pronounce the name of their neighborhood, Carrick.
Keller-The Pittsburgh pronunciation of the word color.
Ketch-What the Steelers and Pirates offense should be doing.

L


M
Meer-A meer is a bright, silvery object, made in all sizes and shapes and used to see reflections.
Melk-That white stuff that we never outgrew our need for, that goes great with cold cereal and chocolate chip cookies.
Member-Because remember is too cumbersome a word, Pittsburghers have shortened it too member.
The Mon-What Pittsburghers call the Monongahela River when they don't have time to slow down their talking to ennciate all the syllables clearly.

N
Nebby-Means the same as nosey.
Norside-Similar to Souside, but on the other side of the rivers.
Nuh-uhh'-This word means the same as "No way, Jose," or "You've got to be kidding!"

O


P
Pataydas-What Pittsburghers eat with their steak.
Pellow-One of those white, fluffy things you stick under your head at night.
Philadelphia-Remember that old saying about a person so ugly that "he had a face only a mother could love?" Well, that's how Pittsburghers feel about Philadelphia...or, Filthydelphia as Pittburghers "affectionately" call it.
Pixburgh-The way some Pittsburghers pronounce the name of their native land. It is many of these same Pixburghers who asks questions instead of asking them.
Putzie-A word that means the same as putter around, or, mechanically, means to fool around with.

Q


R
Redd up-To clean up, or tidy up.
Redlight-When Pittsburghers give directions they don't use phrases such as "Turn left at the intersection," or even "Turn left at the traffic light". In fact, as far as Pittsburghers are concerned, Pittsburgh has no intersections and no traffic lights-or at least no traffic lights of the green or yellow variety. Pittsburgh has only red traffic lights. So all directions are given in terms of redlights, as in "Go two blocks to the redlight, hang a left, go one more block and then turn left again at the redlight and you're there."
Rillize-It's too hard for Pittsburghers to say ree-a-lize, so they just say rillize instead.
Rilly-Rilly rhymes with silly and means really.
Robison-Pittsburghers drop the n out of Robinson and it becomes Robison, as in Jackie Robison and Robison Township.
Rozzlin-Farms? Heights? It doesn't matter which Rosslyn it is, to Pittsburghers they're all Rozzlin

S
Sammich-An edible product invented by a nobleman of the same name(The Earl of Sammich).
Scroll Hill-One of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods which is really named Squirrel Hill.
Shardin-Can you say Sher-a-den? Many Pittsburghers, especially those living there, don't like to. So they say it fast and nasally and it comes out Shardin.
Shahrs-Stumped? Just remember: "April shahrs bring May flahrs."
'Sliberty-Those syllable sliding Pittsburghers have done it again. Here we have a place that anyone west of the Allegheny River calls East Liberty. But in Pittsburgh it's spit out at breakneck speed-'Sliberty!
Slippy-Many perfectly sensible Pittsburghers say slippy instead of slippery.
Souside-The area of Pittsburgh to the south of the Monongahela River.
Spicket-The metal thing with the hole on the end that water comes out of.
Stillers-Pittsburgh's resident football team.

T
Tamaydas-Those round, red things that scientists say are fruit and everyone else says are vegetables.
Tempachur-When a Pittsburgher gets sick he may have a fever-or a tempachur.
Those ones-A peculiar(and sometimes annoyong) grammatical construction in which Pittsburghers add something to a sentence instead of taking it away. When a Pittsburgher is asked "Which apples do you want?" they reply "Those ones," insrtead of simply saying "Those."
Tubes-Pittsburgh slang for tunnels.

U


V


W
Waiting dinner-A phrase usually used by the lady of the house, when you've arrived an hour later than you promised, to describe the delay in serving dinner, because she was waiting for you. For example, "I was waiting dinner until you got home from the office."
Window seal-What everyone else calls a window sill.
Worsh-As a noun, it's the stuff that goes into the washing machine when it gets dirty. As a verb, it's what you do to the stuff once it gets into the washing machine.

Y
The Yock-Term used by Pittsburghers to refer to the Youghiogheny River, so called because of the sounds of laughter("yock, yock, yock") heard emanating from geography teachers reading their students attempts to spell the word correctly.
Yunz-The word that sets Pittsburghers apart from everyone else in the world. It means the same as all of you and is sort of a northern y'all. Yunz is singular, with yunzes usually reserved for the plural.

Z


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