Showing posts with label Dialect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dialect. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Learning About Dialect

I was looking up Pittsburgh English yesterday and learned some stuff about my dialect (okay, I don't have a complete Pittsburgh dialect, I don't use "yinz" and I don't have many of the aspects of the typical accent) that is very interesting.

In south-western Pennsylvania, we call thorn bushes "jaggers."  I've always wondered why I've never seen "jaggers" used in books or cinema and now I know why.  It's a local term.  I didn't know that until yesterday.

To me, shopping carts are "buggies."  Yeah, like a horse and buggy, but...well...not.  Again, until yesterday I didn't know it was a regional term.

Then there are gumbands, the action of "redding up," and gobs.  We drink from spickets.  We neb.  We eat hoagies and dippy eggs.

The coolest one that I noticed is that when I say the word "milk," the "l" sounds more like a "w" most of the time.  How I managed to say it like that and not notice until yesterday astounds me.

What regional terms do you know about that you use?