Essential English phrases

The second-person plural — the local equivalent of y'all, from Scots-Irish 'you ones'. It is the single word that marks someone as from here, and 'yinzer' is what a Pittsburgher is called, affectionately or otherwise.

An idiot, a nuisance, someone driving badly. Pittsburgh's signature insult, mild enough to use in a newspaper headline and specific enough that nobody outside western Pennsylvania says it.

To tidy or clear away — 'redd up the kitchen before they get here'. Another Scots-Irish survival, and heard from people who use no other dialect words at all.

Slippery. Not a mistake, not baby talk — the standard local form, and one you will hear constantly between December and March on a city built on hillsides.

Nosy, prying into other people's business. 'Nebbing' is the act. A neighbour who watches the street is nebby; whether that is a complaint depends entirely on tone.

A rubber band. Genuinely used, genuinely opaque to everyone else in the country, and a reliable way to discover you have absorbed the dialect without noticing.

Downtown — the wedge of land where the Monongahela and Allegheny meet to form the Ohio. The accent flattens the vowel hard; the Golden Triangle is what the business district is called on maps and in property listings.

Interstate 376. Parkway East runs to Monroeville through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, Parkway West to the airport through the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Traffic reports name the tunnels, not the exits, because that is where it stops.

A kitchen chair placed in a street space you have just dug out of the snow, claiming it until you return. Not law, deeply enforced by custom, and moving one is the fastest way to start a feud on your street.

Your flies are undone. Kennywood is the century-old amusement park in West Mifflin; the phrase is a discreet warning that only works if you already know it, which is rather the point.

Ham shaved paper-thin at the deli counter, invented at Isaly's and eaten in a barbecue sauce sandwich. Ordering it correctly is 'chipped chopped ham', and asking for it sliced normally gets you a look.

The Primanti Brothers construction — meat, cheese, coleslaw and french fries inside the bread. Originated in the Strip District for lorry drivers who needed one hand free. Do not ask for the fries on the side.

Any fizzy soft drink. Saying 'soda' is not wrong so much as instantly foreign, and Pittsburgh sits right on the national pop/soda dialect boundary, which locals will happily explain at length.

The City of Pittsburgh's non-emergency service line and app — potholes, missed refuse collection, broken street lights, snow and ice on city steps. It is the number you will use most. 911 stays for emergencies.