Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pennsylvanian, the strange language

Four pages and no talk of dirt roads!?

Dippy is a MUCH more accurate description....

there is nothing overly easy about eating dippy eggs

Grew up 5 miles east of Tamaqua in the town of Coaldale in Northeastern Pa. Heart of the anthracite region. Reading through the idioms brought back memories. One that I remember, if you wanted to rinse clothes on laundry day, you "wrenched" them out.
Wish I could think of more.

One thing I'll never understand though is why a town with a classic name like Mauch Chunk would change it to Jim Thorpe. It'll always be Mauch Chunk to me.

baby coach -noun. Chiefly Eastern Pennsylvania and Chesapeake Bay . A baby carriage.

Lunch meat -noun. Called "cold cuts" elsewhere.

For those who think we Pennsylvanians 'talk funny' or use 'big words', here's why ...

Once a Pennsylvanian, ALWAYS a Pennsylvanian!

About Pennsylvanians: You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything but 'Philly' and New Jersey has always been ' Jersey .'

We don't go to the beach -- we go 'down the shore.'

You refer to Pennsylvania as 'PA' (pronounced Pee-Ay).
How many other states do that??

'You guys' (or even 'youze guys', in some places) is a perfectly acceptable reference to a group of men and women.

You know how to respond to the question 'Djeetyet?' (Did you eat yet?)


You know that the Iggles play football and so do the Stillers.

You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre , Schuylkill , the Poconos, Tamaqua, Kutztown, Tunkahannock, Bala Cynwyd, Kishacoquillas, Duquesne and Monongahela, also Conshohocken.

And we know Lancaster is pronounced Lank-ister, not Lan-kaster.

You know what a 'Mummer' is, and are disappointed if you can't catch at least highlights of the parade.

At least five people on your block have electric 'candles' in all or most of their windows all year long.

You know what a 'State Store' is, and your out-of-state friends find it incredulous that you can't purchase liquor at the mini-mart.


Words like 'hoagie,' 'crick,' 'chipped ham,' 'dippy eggs', 'sticky buns,' 'shoo-fly pie,' 'lemon sponge pie', 'pierogies' and 'pocketbook'
actually mean something to you. (By the way, that last one's PA slang for a purse!)

You not only have heard of Birch Beer, but you know it comes in several colors.

You know the difference between a cheese steak and a pizza steak sandwich, and you know that you also can't get a
really good one anywhere outside of the Philly area. (Except maybe in Atlantic City on the boardwalk.)

You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Paradise, Climax, Bird-in-Hand, Beaver, Moon, Virginville, Mars, Bethlehem, Hershey,
Indiana, Sinking Spring, Jersey Shore, State College, Washington Crossing, Jim Thorpe, King of Prussia, Wind Gap, and
Slippery Rock are all PA towns ... and the first three were consecutive stops on the old Reading RR! (PS - That's pronounced Redd-ing.)



You can identify drivers from New York , New Jersey , Maryland or other neighboring states by their unique and irritating driving habits.

A traffic jam in Lancaster County is 10 cars waiting to pass a horse-drawn carriage on the highway. (And remember ... that's Lank-ister!)

You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

Driving is always better in winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

As a kid you built snow forts and leaf piles that were taller than you were.

You know beer doesn't grow in a garden, but you know where to find a beer garden.

You actually understand all this and send it out to other Pennsylvanians or former Pennsylvanians. It's scary, isn't it!

And Pennsylvania Goulash ain't the same as Hungarian Goulash.

Stationed at PAX River?

Maybe the "CoalSpeak Dictionary" will help you think of more. Here is a link to Coal Region.com. It contains a link to the dictionary on its homepage:

coalregion.com

I live near Tidioute and Tionesta.

Pronounced Tiddy-Youte and Ti-o-Nesta