“Can I get a large pepperoni pie, a hero and a soda,” I hear someone say on the phone. I had to take a moment until I realized that they wanted a pepperoni pizza, a hoagie and a pop. It never occurred to me just how strange the different slang and accents were until I started working and interacting with people from other states.

In Freedom, it’s rather rare and unusual to hear someone say “I’m going to go grab a soda.” Everyone at the table will stop talking, give them a weird look and keep on talking, wondering why they aren’t saying “pop.” Yet if someone says pop in New York (NY), people will stare at you, trying to decipher what you are saying.

Many people call carbonated beverages different things. People on the eastern coast and in California (CA) call it soda, people living in the midwest and upper united states call it pop and people living in Texas or the surrounding states call it coke.

Everyone can make a mental picture of Pepsi or Coke, but what we call it is different. It’s almost like speaking a different language. Everyone gets confused and has to use context clues to understand each other.

Pittsburgh has a very unique and individual accent that is exclusive only to the area. Pittsburgh’s accent is well known as “Pittsburghese” and supposedly rather hard to learn and copy.

“Pittsburghese,” in hindsight, is a combination of abbreviations and odd pronunciation. People from Pittsburgh talk rather fast, therefore they twist the words and slang. They also have odd terms and slang for lots of things.

For example, buggies are shopping carts. Mrs. T’s pierogies are a polish food but are also known as a special Pirates tradition. Five or six people run around the baseball field dressed up as pierogies. A Pittsburgh salad is fries dumped on a salad, and chipped ham is sliced very thin. Slippy, is also known as slippery, jaggers or a jaggerbush, is a thornbush, worsh means to wash and red up means clean up. Jeez-o-man is slang for “omg,” or “oh my god”. Sweep is to brush or vacuum, nebby means nosy, guchies or underguchies are underwear, the Stillers are known as the Steelers, n’at means and that and gawd is another word for god. Gummyband, or gumband, is a rubber band or hairband. Jimmies on an ice cream are sprinkles, hoagies or subs are heroes, Eat-n-park is a small food chain located in the Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

Kennywood is an amusement park that everyone plans to go to every summer to ride the Phantom and Skyrocket. Dahntan is just a mispronounced downtown, and everything comes in jumbo or giant. A water spicket is a water handle.

Commode is a toilet and a crick is a creek. Ignorant is pronounced ig-ner-ant and means rude and stupid. To jag around means to mess around and supper is what your mom is cooking tonight for dinner. Due to people talking faster, instead of saying ‘very’ they say ‘thery’. Of course, the Pirates are known as the Bucs.

Those are just some of the slang unique to Pittsburgh. There are many other things unique to Pittsburgh as well. For example, black and gold can be found everywhere for the Steelers, Pirates or Penguins. Also, the Pittsburgh people are very compassionate, loud and tend tobe rather big sports fans of the three teams.

The strip district is also a big part of Pittsburgh, offering a variety of stores, restaurants and places to walk. People will always talk to you and offer any help you need rather than turning away from you.
Pittsburgh is a rather wonderful place to visit. You have to see the people, food, sights, they are such great things to experience. If that isn’t enough, the accents should be.