Pearls Before Swine cartoon about that distinctive Pittsburgh accent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An accent reveals where you came from. The March 1, 2024 Pearls Before Swine cartoon by Stephan Pastis has the following dialogue:

 

Policeman: Pardon me folks, but we’re looking for a bank robber. All we know about him is that he’s from Pittsburgh.

Rat: Yeah, well good luck ID’ing someone just based on where they’re from.

Bald Man: Yeah, yinz are nuts.

Goat: Pittsburghese for ‘you all.’

Rat: They have their own language?

Bald Man: Was my Franco Harris underwear showing?

 

I grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (from 1955 to 1977) and am familiar with their distinctive Western Pennsylvania English. Back on February 1, 2015 I blogged about how Last fall Pittsburgh took the prize for worst accent in the U.S. 

 

In Philadelphia they say youse, down South it’s y’all, but around Pittsburgh it’s yinz (or yunz). In Squirrel Hill the phrase: Yinz gwan up Murray? means Are you going (shopping) up on Murray Avenue?

 

The panorama came from Wikimedia Commons.