A corner-store guide to Pittsburghese

Pittsburgh has its own way of talking. If you just moved here for school or work, these ten words will get you through most conversations in a store like ours.

1. Pop. Any soft drink. Nobody here asks for a soda.
2. Yinz. You all. As in, “Are yinz open till eleven?” We are.
3. N’at. “And that,” meaning and so on. “I need chips, pop n’at.”
4. Buggy. A shopping cart. We are small enough that a basket will do.
5. Chipped ham. Ham shaved so thin it falls apart. A local sandwich staple.
6. Jumbo. Bologna. If someone asks for a pound of jumbo, they are not asking for a large anything.
7. Gumband. A rubber band.
8. Redd up. To tidy. We redd up the shelves every night.
9. Nebby. Nosy. Reading other people’s receipts is nebby.
10. Slippy. Slippery. Carson Street gets slippy when it snows, so mind the sidewalk.

Use two or three of these and people will assume you grew up here. Use all ten in one sentence and they will know you read it on a blog.