regional slang - Page 7

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@AnikaBrodie I don't know if it was you or another poster who previously had posted that ALL Pa dutch and all central & western Pa folks talk like this - yet , I have lived in SW Pa for 62 years and have NEVER heard anyone , including my Amish neighbors , speak in this way. So I don't know who your referring to but it is not a SW Pa dialect.

For instance the sample you wrote - in Pitts. we would say "He went downstairs".

AnikaBrodie · ‎03-10-2010

@151949 I am not the poster you spoke of.

However, PA Dutch is spoken a lot in my area of PA by Amish and Mennonite (many families live near us) and I've heard it a lot in Lancaster and surrounding counties. I was not speaking of SW PA!

"Faith, Hope, Love; the greatest of these is Love." ~The Silver Fox~

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

I was raised UCC and it is not spoken here by us (Pa Dutch) or our Amish/Mennonite neighbors either.

nun ya · ‎03-09-2010

@151949 wrote:
@Mominohio wrote:
@Othereeeen wrote:
From NYC..."stoop" is the front steps....

"the Ell" is the elevated subway that runs on suspended tracks...(You take the Ell to......"

From NJ..."Down the shore"...means visiting the seashore....."We went down the shore for the summmah..."

Pittsburgh......they drop the words "to be"....as in "It needs cleaned up" ...or "The streets need plowed" ....

....and "youins" for (loosely) "you guys....

Maybe because I was raised by a mom from the Pittsburgh area, but eliminating the "to be" seems to be normal here as well, in casual speech.

And I've only met one person who used the "youins" that wasn't from PA. I always assume anyone using that is from western PA.

Well, except for people purposely using it to poke fun at Pittsburger accents - I have never actually heard anyone use the words youns, youins or yinz in conversation, and I lived in Pittsburgh for 62 years.