Jennifer has an accent? Really?

Yes I have an accent.  I grew up in Elizabeth, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh.  My family speaks with an accent that we proudly refer to as Pittsburghese.

Pittsburghese is a regional dialect from the Pittsburgh, PA area.  Southwestern, PA to be exact.   The dialect has its own vocabulary, grammar, and sound system rules.

Grammar “rules” of my dialect Pittsburghese:

When using the verbs WANT and NEED we omit the “to be”.  For example, we would say:

“The car needs washed.”  Instead of saying ‘the car needs to be washed.’
“She wants helped.”  Instead of saying ‘she wants to be helped.’


Instead of using the plural pronoun you, we would say YINZ.  For example, we would say:

“Do yinz want to go with me?”  Instead of saying ‘Do you all want to go with me?’

Sound “rules” of my dialect Pittsburghese:

We say short a instead of the long OW.  For instance, I would say dahn tahn instead of down town.
We say the short i instead of the long E in some words.  For instance, I would say “My uncles worked in the still mill.”  Instead of saying, “My uncles worked in a steel mill.”  We would also say “I shop at Giant Igle” (a grocery store) instead of “I shop at Giant Eagle.”

Some vocabulary:

I use a BUGGY at the grocery store instead of a cart.
GUMBANDS are used instead of rubber bands.
We eat JUMBO instead of bologna.
If the house is messy, we REDD UP, instead of tidy up.
When it is icy, we say it is SLIPPY, not slippery.