Pittsburghese
noun · first attested 1960s
The name was invented by newspapers rather than linguists, and it turned an accent into a souvenir.
The dialect of English spoken in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania.
40.4417°N -80.0000°W · Q1342
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1960s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Pittsburgh
- In English
Pittsburghese
Pittsburgh papers had printed lists of local words since at least 1910, and the label Pittsburghese was in use by the 1960s, when the lists became a regular feature. Linguists call the variety Western Pennsylvania English; yinz descends from the Scots-Irish you ones, and redd up from a Scots verb meaning to tidy. The name now sells mugs and T-shirts as much as it describes speech.