PA dialect question
 

Since moving here and not being from here I have noticed the the words "to be" are not in the PA vocabulary. They don't say "It needs to be fixed" They say "It needs fixed" and things like " It needs painted". I've even seen it worded that way in print ads. So why is that? I mean everybody says it that way around here. "Yinz" is grating enough but this makes me crazy.

Here it's "It needed fixin'" and "It needed paintin'"
Jim

I can't even find Valhalla, PA on Google Maps. But you must be near Yinzburg. I went school there and many of my college buddies were from Philly and NJ. We loved making fun of the Yinzers - pahndin' Ahrens dahntahn, shootin' gumbands, watchin' the Stillers, etc. Oh, the dialect is instantly recognizable anywhere in the world.

Here the proper phrase would be " its fixin to git painted"

i see that on occasion too. i think it is more widespread than just pa though.

valhalla PA is not on any map.

I'm thinking it may be because of the german/amish influence here. It's a translation thing.

Oooh. Sounds like a place I need to consider for retirement.

I've seen that a lot here on the board, mostly in the for sale section. I didn't know people actual *spoke* that way, I just assumed they were poor writers.

That is exactly what I did.

People generally write the way they speak.

Not me, I speak much worse!!

It's "colloquial" . I am a native Pennsylvanian, near the "Dutch" and Amish people. Every area of the world has it's own idiocyncracies. Our's are "funner" than some others. PA is a great place to live. You have to leave it for awhile, then come back, to appreciate this. I lived in California for awhile, another friend lived in Colorado. We are both glad to be back. That does not mean we don't want to "winter" in a warmer climate for 3 months. :)

Why don't you "red up yir room" and go to the Jynt Egle. Just stop worrying about how they sound ? I lived in Butler for a while and Greensburg before that.. drove me nuts (the ex wife is from there).
My sympathies my friend

same here!

I'm not "worried" about it. I just thought it was a good question to ask. man you lived all around me. butler is like 30 miles east of me. Now I'm gonna go get a sammich and a pop.

I moved here from Florida, so they look at me real strange when my "southern" comes out. I'm sure "ya'll" sounds just as funny to them.

The one that still gets to me after 13 years in the US: "Where you at?" instead of "Where are you"

Yinz are prolly right.

One of my friends mentioned that one too.

Oh I'm deep in Dutch country. My Jynt eggle has a hitching post on the side of the parking lot. By the way I love it here. The nicest people I have ever met.

i grew up with lots of people who spoke like that. the one that still gets under my skin....

"put that up." instead of "put that away."

unless the object is being physically being placed at a higher elevation, it's not being put up. it's being put away.

and yes, people in northern indiana would always say something "needs fixed" "needs painted" "needs planted" etc

My wife's from the Pocono's and they speak like that... Someone even made a website dedicated to it.

Coal Region of Pennsylvania

I just moved to Arkansas.....

Ya'll fixin ta git reddy? Ya caint do that rat now. Boy I tell you somthin. That'l go for a fair-thee-well! I'll carry you to the store, if'n ya want.

My ancestors are from the "coal region" - Tamaqua specifically. My grandfather was a coal miner. I live in Reading, PA, not far away. When I go up there for whatever reason I notice the people are extremely "guarded" until I let them know my family is from the area. Then it's like "old home" week. Interesting people. Good people.
That coal region link Tim put up will keep you entertained for awhile.

Living in the Northeast would definitely require a long period of adjustment. The accents and dialects up there, PA, NY, NJ, MA, etc..., drive me bonkers.

Typical conversation:

A: Jeet?

B: No, Jew?

A: Oh, yizzle hafta call when ur dun.

Philly Tawk video
 

YouTube - Philly Tawk: The Phluphian Dialect

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"The accents and dialects up there, PA, NY, NJ, MA, etc..., drive me bonkers."

Accent? What accent? :)
When I lived in California my co workers knew I was from the PA Dutch part of PA by my accent, they said. I never realized i had an accent until then.

It's the "Philwy","New Joysey" and "Baastin" accents that drive me nuts.

There is no "b" nor is there an "l" in the word chimney, neither is there an "r" in the word wash.

And there is a second D in didn't.

My Canadian-born father picked up the R in Washington during our stint in DC. He kept it for the rest of his life.

Ian

HA! My wife's from Coaldale, the next town over from Tamaqua

Wierd. I spent several weeks working in the Lancaster area and never noticed anyone talking differently.
Maybe I wasn't paying attention to it or something.

East, west and central PA have different dialects. Philly's is very distinctive and it extends almost up to Wilkes Barre. Central PA is not too distinctive, but they do have that R in "Washington." Listen to Newt Gingrich say "Washington." He grew up in central PA. Pittsburgh is totally different. I would say the dialect is dying out a little, since Pittsburgh has become a more cosmopolitan city. When I started college there in 1989, it had just shed its steel mill town image and was starting to become a modern, corporate city. Now they have a new airport and a lot of international companies there. So the true blue Yinzers are a little harder to find.

The letter "R" seems to be the big problem.....
They either add the letter where it doesn't belong, warsh, sawr, Hondar or leave it out completely, pahk the cah outside the bah.

That's more of a NE and MA thing. I'm thinking of the Kennedy way of saying "Cuber" instead of Cuba. Central PA is not that odd of a dialect.

I don't know what yinz all say up air in Valhalla, but down ear in Johnstown we tenda blur sumwerds.

I moved West about 25 years ago, it's fun talking on the phone with my parents and family still in the area, hearing the SW PA accent. I think I miss it.

I say "ya'll" but then i'm from Floriduh. My wife is from here but as an airline brat, she has lived all over the U.S. and has lost all the W. PA speak.
I made pot of ham and black bean soup with some yellow rice one day and took it into the shop I work at here. They were very cautious until one guy took the leap. Then once he said it was good, the finished the pot. Some day I'll try shrimp and grits.

"What's a grit?". Hahahaha.

Black beans and yellow rice, yummy.

Yeah, I've never understood adding letters where they don't exist. There's a road here in Houston named kuykendahl. They pronounce it kirk-in-doll. Where in the he'll did the "r" come from?

Aothermgood speech oddity, the silent "h". "That thing is ewe-j.". "uman being"

Or the ghetto pronunciations of ask and Buick.
How about, "let me aks you a question about your bruick."

I say ya'll which doesn't bother me. Also, since I've moved to Houston, I've started saying "howdy" and I can't stop myself.

I'm from New Philly. Maybe I know your grandfather.

Best,
Tom

I'm from "down the shore" my accent has a little philly some joisey wit-a-tuch a New Yawk threwn in.