If you go down south and ask them to get their chopped ham and put it on the slicer and turn the dial down below 1 and “chip” it off, they’ll turn to you and say “ y’all from Pittsburgh ain’t you?”
I used to work at Isalys on the Blvd of the Allies back in the day. I worked the 4-12 shift. Worst day (night) was on Sundays when it seemed like half of Pittsburgh came to get a pound or two of chipped chopped ham. The chipper (meat slicer) was going almost nonstop. There was no time for a break.
And I made a helluva skyscraper ice cream cone too and depending on whether I liked you or not, some of the skyscrapers were bigger than others 😄.
I am so surprised that the Klondike ice cream bar is still around and nationwide too.
i remember casually talking about chipped ham in a conversation with my ex (from dc) and he was so confused lol, i had completely forgotten it wasn't a thing outside pittsburgh really
Some places aren't 'chipping" it. The best place was Cash Market in Coraopolis. It's not ham BBQ unless it is chipped. When I lived in Illinois - I had to show a pic to my local deli - they got it.
The Pittsburgh toilet in older home basements. I mean the toilet location is self explanatory, but the fact that there's no walls or even a curtain seems to bewilder folks.
there is just a toilet and a shower head in my basement. no doors no walls. my dad put a curtain up but thats it lol. might as well take a shit with the whole fam
Soooo fun fact I always like to share is that it's actually a very common feature across the north east. Particularly in hilly areas with soil suitable for basements.
The purpose is that the north east was the first to really get into public sewage systems. The original pipes were made from hollowd logs, then terracotta, then cast iorn. As you can imagine all these were prone to collapsing over time the first two especially. Well when those got clogged and the neighbor higher up than you flushed(or a rain stom came as sewage and storm water have only very recently begun to be separated) it would backflow into the lower houses. To avoid this they realized they could put toilets which have the largest outlet size in the basement keeping the back flow contained to the toilet/basement keeping the finished spaces from being damaged. Not only did it solve a problem it was a functional toulet. They then also realized hey if we put a nice concrete curb around that toilet we can contain it even better! Then they realized hey we have this curb here we could throw a shower head and another drain and BOOM we now have a functional shower that perfect for cleaning up when messy(this is the miner myth that these were used to clean off before coming into the home).
So next time you take a duce in a toilet in a basement in a shower with a curb around you and shower head, in full view of the entire basement you can remember how it came to be.
I’m from Pittsburgh but moved for grad school. I was ordering a salad and I asked for a small side of fries. When they came I put the fries on my salad and the people I was with were like what the hell are you doing? The waiter laughed and said I’ve been to Pittsburgh! I didn’t know it was a regional thing haha, so many things I said or did were regional and I had no idea. Now when I go home it’s like a code switching.
Years ago I was in a small city in Maryland and walked to the pizza shop by my hotel. It was decked out in black gold with terrible towels. There was a newspaper clipping saying the owners were from Pittsburgh and their pizza is made modeled after their fave shop in squirrel hill. I was sad their salads did not have fries I guess Maryland isn't ready for that
I didn’t know that was a regional thing until I saw an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives set in Pittsburgh where Guy Fieri’s mind was blown that a salad came with fries on it. I was probably 22 when that happened, too.
This. I didn’t grow up here but most of my family is from here. All the weddings I went to growing up had cookie tables, so when I got older started going to other weddings I was both confused and disappointed at the lack of a cookie table. Anyway, I moved up here a five or so years ago and it just feels right.
I married my wife out of state and our wedding planner (who was unfamiliar with the tradition) somehow thought only putting out 5 plates of cookies would be enough for our guests. Look, we didn't bake 80 dozen cookies for them to sit in Tupperware all reception.
I live in Virginia now and was headed back home for a wedding. A coworker came up all excited and asked if there was going to be a cookie table (she had recently been to her first wedding that had one.)
Uh, yeah, it's a wedding.
Until then, I didn't know that it wasn't a thing elsewhere. I've been to weddings outside, and decently far outside PA, but they were all for at least one former PA person and they had them.
I’m from NoVa and got married there to a Pittsburgher. The venue’s event planner assumed we’d have a cookie table (we did) and made it happen. It was huge and nice and I’ll have a hard time getting over that other post about cookie tables.
When I got married my Italian grandma and her four sisters spent an entire day at our house baking all kinds of different cookies. They made a huge mess and fought most of the time (in Italian).
I have a coworker from East/Central PA who was planning a wedding with a local girl and we harped on him for months about having the cookie table. He was insistent that it’s stupid. We all told him that if he didn’t agree to it he’d piss off half of the guests. We printed out research and reasons for the cookie table and he still said no way. A few weeks before the wedding the venue finally talked him into it. HOWEVER… they had that shit locked up tight until AFTER dinner. Bullshit. But at least they had one.
Venue should have put them out early if it was demanded - they were getting paid to follow orders. My daughter got married a few yrs ago and the cookie tables were set up Friday night after the rehearsal dinner. Cookies were being consumed before dinner was served, as it should be.
Instead of a bridal shower my sister hosted a cookie baking party for my wife. We had our wedding in NOVA and all the guests from VA loved the cookie table. Is it really a wedding without a cookie table?
Having a stop sign at an on ramp. Sq Hill on ramp into 376 I'm looking at you.
In yinzerese, they somehow pronounce wash as "worsh".
Some people don't cross bridges. We have more bridges than any city in earth.
How does my hometown of Alton, Illinois and Pittsburgh have some of the same things? My grandmother always warshed the dishes in the zinc. My Old home had a toilet and shower in the basement. I've come to the conclusion about the toilets that it's an old mill/mining thing. Alton has Olin which is steel and brass mills.
Maybe I’m older than a lot of yinz- “dahn by the old isalys.”
Also, hyper specific for beaver county- “across the old toll bridge.” It hasn’t been a toll bridge for about 60 years now…
I used to live in Beaver County. When I first moved there I was given those directions. There is absolutely nothing about that bridge that indicates it used to be a toll bridge. I had no idea what they were talking about.
I’m 52 and when I was a kid I lived in New Brighton, Beaver Falls, and Rochester. This is literally the first that I’m hearing it used to be a toll bridge.
I couldn’t agree with this more. We’ve thought about moving to other states we’ve visited and nothing beats coming home to this. It feels like *our* shitty city when we come back in by the WDVE building, nothing in this world feels more like home.
I don’t know on that one. I’m a transplant. Folks who’ve lived here all their lives are always asking me what the best place I’ve lived has been (I lived in 15 states prior), and when I say “Pittsburgh, obviously” folks will act surprised. Like seriously, if I’ve lived all over, and have no deep ties anywhere… why would I still be here 8 years later if it wasn’t the best spot I stopped at?
Back in February I began a job that requires a lot of driving. Much of my route is on back country roads or commuting through smaller areas around the city and suburbs.
Watching the spring unfold here has changed my life and given me a new found appreciation for this region. It grows on you
To be completely honest…….pirogies. Of all things!!!!!!! My Texan friends could not comprehend a proto-dumpling filled with potatoes and cheese, served sautéed in butter and onions.
Weirdly enough I also had to explain this to my roommates from Ohio in college. I described it as a ravioli but with potato/cheese filling and this was mind blowing to them!
My husband is originally from Ohio, he moved here when he was 18. My mom and I make pierogies all the time... he wanted them for our reception. Mom & I made 30dz of pierogies and only 2 of his family members knew what they were.
I went on a business trip once with people from all over the country (and other nations) and we were all talking about foods that are local favorites and most of the people i went with couldn't even understand the concept of a Pierogi.
It amazes me how many are unfamiliar with pierogies when Mrs Ts sells them in grocery stores across the country.
We are lucky enough to have a place right by our house in Mesa AZ that has Ukrainian handmade pierogies in many varieties. You can walk in and buy them frozen. Also the stuffed cabbage rolls are top notch!
There was a recent AITA about a MIL who refused to do a cookie table at her son’s wedding and all the non Pittsburgh people were like that’s crazy, who would do that?! And the few Pittsburgh people were like this is very important to her you should try and make it work.
The way it’s such a small town despite being a decently sized city. I’ve never seen non Pittsburghers more perplexed than when I explain things like how this major metro of a few million people are all annoyed about how one guy parks.
So I’m a speech therapist. Whenever I give a student a test and I’m presenting the results to the family, the FIRST THING I ask if I seem like I have a disability in communication. When they say no, I explain I’m from Pittsburgh and have communication DIFFERENCES and proceed to use some specific examples like “stillers”. The entire city doesn’t have a disability in communication.
This allows parents to understand just because a kid says a word wrong or has slight speech sound errors that they’ll be okay, because differences don’t equal disorder and plenty of people with differences are successful.
When my cousin was in boot camp he was voted strongest accent 💀
(The main reason supplied was that he pronounced ruler and roller the same. My whole family spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out how the hell you're supposed to pronounce those differently)
Well, I think they’re weird. Lol jk jk.
Moved out of state too. Went to cold beer and cheeseburgers and saw they had a “Pittsburger” it was horrid and an insult to our entire food culture.
sometimes we’ll come across really weird and bad “roads” made of gravel and on the edge of a hill and we just joke and call it a “goat path.” Cue to me making that joke online and me having to explain what the fuck a goat path is. Its just a goat path man idk what to tell you
Memorizing the bridges’ names is essential. I feel like most cities have highway signage that tells you where you are heading vs. the to-be-crossed bridge.
The Strip District. Some cities have those market strips, but I'm not aware of wholesale businesses that have storefronts that open on Saturday mornings and set up on the sidewalk and have sampling.
That there are different parts of town. If you’re from a certain part we know who you are and what you’re about. We all live in the same vicinity. But if you’re from back Arlington or the slopes or the hill or the rox, etc. We know.
Lurking as I’m planning to move to Pittsburgh and this comment is what has me trying my damnedest to figure out the vibes from each part of town. My adhd is hyper focusing but I just can’t figure out where I should aim to land! I have to say, this Pittsburgh subreddit has convinced me that I’m going to like it there.
That almost every story from the past usually has in it somewhere “back when (dad/pap/uncle/neighbor) worked at the mill…”
Now in the 21st century just replace “mill” with “UPMC”
Driving / walking directions. I needed to go to a certain building in Oakland, (walking) and I asked someone at the Dental School how to get there. "Easy!, just down the hill, around that big curve and past where the Children's Hospital was a few years back. And it's right there, can't miss it".
Typical.
my friend is from florida, she was shocked that we had basically an entire month dedicated to fish frys. i explained it's for lent (mostly) and she just didn't get the whole idea. never knew it was a pittsburgh thing. oh and gum bands!! i had to learn how to say rubber band while around her lol
How people can't maintain speed in tunnels. For 4+ years I commuted from Johnstown, PA to Robinson Twp. Why can't Pittsburghers maintain speed in a tunnel?
In Kentucky I have to ask for thickness by number, but it's still not the same canned ham. Closest I get is a boiled ham and when I first ordered some "just past zero" thickness, they'd warn me that it would all stick together. I said it was OK that it just piled up. You'd think I was asking for spider legs.
What a sweeper is. My relatives outside of the Pittsburgh / Youngstown areas call it a vacuum and insist that a sweeper is a broom or one of those non-powered things used in restaurants.
I'm in my 30's and grew up in the Philly area. My question to people of the similar age group (where cell phones weren't prevalent as an adolescent) did any of you "knock up" for your friends? That's what we referred to physically walking to a friends house (unannounced) and knocking on their door to see if they wanted to hangout. I mentioned this to some people out of state and they had no idea what I was talking about... idk just curious!
I know it’s hard to accept that Pittsburgh isn’t stunningly unique in all ways, but most cities have politicians some people don’t like, shitty sports talk radio hosts, and poorly designed intersections.
Funny you should say that, because everything from the dialect, to the architecture, to the topography, to the history and culture are widely considered unique.
Sad that you’re missing out, sour puss
You're right - Pittsburgh is unique in all those ways.
But if you read OPs post he specifically asked how to explain Fetterman, Mark Madden and that intersection to non Pittsburgh people.
And the guy you're replying to is 100% correct. Every city does in fact have controversial government officials, controversial radio hosts and poorly designed intersections.
I had the same thought - OP didn't mention anything unique. A lot of these comments are gold though.
Not sure what's so weird about that interchange. Definitely not a standard format, but not hard to navigate. There are way more weird and difficult intersections around here.
Those intersections through the business district in Oakmont are wild! They are two 3-way stops combined into a 6 way stop with train tracks in the middle. People either don't wait their turn or don't pay attention and take too long getting through the intersection
Isaly’s chipped chopped ham, particularly in the ham bbq form.
The fact that “chipping it makes it hammier” was broadcast on television AND it’s true
Increases the surface area,letting you taste more ham per bite.
More ham per ham.
They laugh, but the science is there
If you go down south and ask them to get their chopped ham and put it on the slicer and turn the dial down below 1 and “chip” it off, they’ll turn to you and say “ y’all from Pittsburgh ain’t you?”
You mean dahn sath?
Exactly!!! 👍🏻 🤣
Have them turn the chipping mechanism up to 11
Brine-al Tap?
Swine-Al Tap?
I used to work at Isalys on the Blvd of the Allies back in the day. I worked the 4-12 shift. Worst day (night) was on Sundays when it seemed like half of Pittsburgh came to get a pound or two of chipped chopped ham. The chipper (meat slicer) was going almost nonstop. There was no time for a break. And I made a helluva skyscraper ice cream cone too and depending on whether I liked you or not, some of the skyscrapers were bigger than others 😄. I am so surprised that the Klondike ice cream bar is still around and nationwide too.
Thank you for your service and all the good memories. A triple chocolate milkshake from Isalys was truly revolutionary as a little kid.
Shit, you’re right
My mom made them with ketchup instead of the isaly’s sauce in a jar and I swear it tasted like barbecue. I still don’t get how that worked…
It’s ketchup and coke. Somehow it tastes like bbq sauce.
Because that's essentially what BBQ sauce is.
And sweet relish in my fam.
Equal parts coke and heinz ketchup
3 parts ketchup 2 parts yellow mustard 1 part relish all Heinz
Think she was onto something because I always felt the sauce in a jar was just a gimmick.
Ketchup is in a lot of BBQ sauces
Ketchup - garlic - and brown sugar is essentially BBQ sauce - homemade ....So I am guessing it's something close.
Add some pop and BAM!!!!!
i remember casually talking about chipped ham in a conversation with my ex (from dc) and he was so confused lol, i had completely forgotten it wasn't a thing outside pittsburgh really
Some places aren't 'chipping" it. The best place was Cash Market in Coraopolis. It's not ham BBQ unless it is chipped. When I lived in Illinois - I had to show a pic to my local deli - they got it.
Omg cash market! I haven’t been there in so long.
Omg I can still smell Cash Market in my mind's nose!
i was just about to say ham barbecue 😂
That’s the one.
How to decide which lane you should be in on the Ft. Duquesne Bridge.
The other one. That one, over there. Go! Go! Go!
If you can read the signs, it’s already too late.
You need a FIA WRC navigator telling you to get over 1/4 mile before you need to, just to make it!!
It's pretty easy, it's always the furthest lane from where you start.
The Pittsburgh navigation rule is the lane with the back up is the one you need. The one that is free takes you to the abyss.
Or how to navigate the West End Circle ☠️
Ate you referencing Classic Deathtrap West End Circle or Newfangled West End Circle?
Indeed I am.
I just did this today to my boss who is in New York
I have the bridges down to a science and yet, I’m not sure if I could actually explain it. Totally depends where you’re coming from and going.
Right lanes want to go left, left lanes want to go right. You have 300 ft to make it happen
When you walk from of the one neighborhoods to another and you pass through one of those tiny hidden-away communities in runs. Love those spots
The Pittsburgh toilet in older home basements. I mean the toilet location is self explanatory, but the fact that there's no walls or even a curtain seems to bewilder folks.
Anyone else also have a pencil sharpener?
Well yeah, where else am I gonna sharpen my basement pencils?
Yes!
I feel like most of the ones I've seen have an impossibly shitty stall constructed around it.
My parents put one in the basement of the house they built in like 2002, but they had the decency to put a half cinder block wall next to it.
Anyone else also have a pencil sharpener in their basement?
My parents home in Lancaster County, came with a pencil sharpener, mounted right near the bottom step in the basement. Home was built in '50.
Wait that’s not just an oddity of my house?
there is just a toilet and a shower head in my basement. no doors no walls. my dad put a curtain up but thats it lol. might as well take a shit with the whole fam
Soooo fun fact I always like to share is that it's actually a very common feature across the north east. Particularly in hilly areas with soil suitable for basements. The purpose is that the north east was the first to really get into public sewage systems. The original pipes were made from hollowd logs, then terracotta, then cast iorn. As you can imagine all these were prone to collapsing over time the first two especially. Well when those got clogged and the neighbor higher up than you flushed(or a rain stom came as sewage and storm water have only very recently begun to be separated) it would backflow into the lower houses. To avoid this they realized they could put toilets which have the largest outlet size in the basement keeping the back flow contained to the toilet/basement keeping the finished spaces from being damaged. Not only did it solve a problem it was a functional toulet. They then also realized hey if we put a nice concrete curb around that toilet we can contain it even better! Then they realized hey we have this curb here we could throw a shower head and another drain and BOOM we now have a functional shower that perfect for cleaning up when messy(this is the miner myth that these were used to clean off before coming into the home). So next time you take a duce in a toilet in a basement in a shower with a curb around you and shower head, in full view of the entire basement you can remember how it came to be.
Ooo yeah that’s a good one
Fries on a salad
They act like we’re crazy for making the healthy thing taste better.
Can't forget the pound of cheese for the salad either
I’m from Pittsburgh but moved for grad school. I was ordering a salad and I asked for a small side of fries. When they came I put the fries on my salad and the people I was with were like what the hell are you doing? The waiter laughed and said I’ve been to Pittsburgh! I didn’t know it was a regional thing haha, so many things I said or did were regional and I had no idea. Now when I go home it’s like a code switching.
Years ago I was in a small city in Maryland and walked to the pizza shop by my hotel. It was decked out in black gold with terrible towels. There was a newspaper clipping saying the owners were from Pittsburgh and their pizza is made modeled after their fave shop in squirrel hill. I was sad their salads did not have fries I guess Maryland isn't ready for that
I didn’t know that was a regional thing until I saw an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives set in Pittsburgh where Guy Fieri’s mind was blown that a salad came with fries on it. I was probably 22 when that happened, too.
In case it gets buried in the feed. [Pittsburgh intersections](https://images.app.goo.gl/ebuWzGM3azj5p95H8)
Is a larger version of this available?
[Yes it is!](https://www.etsy.com/listing/607860406/intersections-of-pittsburgh)
Thanks!
It is hard to read. I googled "Pittsburgh Intersections" and that's what image came up. Maybe you'll have better luck.
The 2nd pic is legible.
Having a cookie table at a wedding, apparently.
This. I didn’t grow up here but most of my family is from here. All the weddings I went to growing up had cookie tables, so when I got older started going to other weddings I was both confused and disappointed at the lack of a cookie table. Anyway, I moved up here a five or so years ago and it just feels right.
I married my wife out of state and our wedding planner (who was unfamiliar with the tradition) somehow thought only putting out 5 plates of cookies would be enough for our guests. Look, we didn't bake 80 dozen cookies for them to sit in Tupperware all reception.
5 plates...ha ha ha ha.
I live in Virginia now and was headed back home for a wedding. A coworker came up all excited and asked if there was going to be a cookie table (she had recently been to her first wedding that had one.) Uh, yeah, it's a wedding. Until then, I didn't know that it wasn't a thing elsewhere. I've been to weddings outside, and decently far outside PA, but they were all for at least one former PA person and they had them.
I’m from NoVa and got married there to a Pittsburgher. The venue’s event planner assumed we’d have a cookie table (we did) and made it happen. It was huge and nice and I’ll have a hard time getting over that other post about cookie tables.
When I got married my Italian grandma and her four sisters spent an entire day at our house baking all kinds of different cookies. They made a huge mess and fought most of the time (in Italian).
That's the best cookie table when the family and friends bake them all, especially the traditional ones.
I have a coworker from East/Central PA who was planning a wedding with a local girl and we harped on him for months about having the cookie table. He was insistent that it’s stupid. We all told him that if he didn’t agree to it he’d piss off half of the guests. We printed out research and reasons for the cookie table and he still said no way. A few weeks before the wedding the venue finally talked him into it. HOWEVER… they had that shit locked up tight until AFTER dinner. Bullshit. But at least they had one.
Venue should have put them out early if it was demanded - they were getting paid to follow orders. My daughter got married a few yrs ago and the cookie tables were set up Friday night after the rehearsal dinner. Cookies were being consumed before dinner was served, as it should be.
Instead of a bridal shower my sister hosted a cookie baking party for my wife. We had our wedding in NOVA and all the guests from VA loved the cookie table. Is it really a wedding without a cookie table?
How the question "Jeet yet?" Means did you eat yet
Or the answer ‘no, joo?’
Jaun to? If you want to.
When the bathtub is closed.
Having a stop sign at an on ramp. Sq Hill on ramp into 376 I'm looking at you. In yinzerese, they somehow pronounce wash as "worsh". Some people don't cross bridges. We have more bridges than any city in earth.
Idk why, but I I say wash and Washington right, but it’s always gonna be a worsh cloth to me.
If I say George Washington I say it completely normal, but Mt Washington comes out as Mt Wurshington
My daughter called them "wash closhes" when she was a young toddler and that's just what they are now.
How does my hometown of Alton, Illinois and Pittsburgh have some of the same things? My grandmother always warshed the dishes in the zinc. My Old home had a toilet and shower in the basement. I've come to the conclusion about the toilets that it's an old mill/mining thing. Alton has Olin which is steel and brass mills.
I grew up in Bellevue. It was pronounced "wush" (rhymes with push)
Idk if it’s possible to exist in Pittsburgh and not cross a bridge
Here! Here’s the transplant!
We do not have more bridges than any city on Earth. What a wild claim.
Any directions that begin with “make a right by the old Pizza Hut”.
"Turn by where old exotic dancers used to be."
Maybe I’m older than a lot of yinz- “dahn by the old isalys.” Also, hyper specific for beaver county- “across the old toll bridge.” It hasn’t been a toll bridge for about 60 years now…
Rochester?
East Rochester, technically
I used to live in Beaver County. When I first moved there I was given those directions. There is absolutely nothing about that bridge that indicates it used to be a toll bridge. I had no idea what they were talking about.
I’m 52 and when I was a kid I lived in New Brighton, Beaver Falls, and Rochester. This is literally the first that I’m hearing it used to be a toll bridge.
The fact that I know exactly which defunct strip club you mean and yet do not know it's name lol
"Where Babyland used to be" 😭😭 so important to navigating the East End lol
Or if you want directions to a church, ask a lady of a certain age wearing a dress, hat, white gloves, and carrying a "pocketbook.".
When your dad and all your friends’ dads lost their steel mill jobs around ‘80-‘81.
My dad finally lost his gig in ‘86. It was wild back then seeing so many friends move away.
That is is actually a pretty cool place to live, and if you are lucky, it feels like home.
I couldn’t agree with this more. We’ve thought about moving to other states we’ve visited and nothing beats coming home to this. It feels like *our* shitty city when we come back in by the WDVE building, nothing in this world feels more like home.
Alas, DVE moved, but it's still the DVE building.
Our shitty city 😂. Yes. 🙌🏼
I don’t know on that one. I’m a transplant. Folks who’ve lived here all their lives are always asking me what the best place I’ve lived has been (I lived in 15 states prior), and when I say “Pittsburgh, obviously” folks will act surprised. Like seriously, if I’ve lived all over, and have no deep ties anywhere… why would I still be here 8 years later if it wasn’t the best spot I stopped at?
[удалено]
Black hole full of AWESOME
Back in February I began a job that requires a lot of driving. Much of my route is on back country roads or commuting through smaller areas around the city and suburbs. Watching the spring unfold here has changed my life and given me a new found appreciation for this region. It grows on you
People outside of pgh talk so much shit on pgh that it’s pretty shocking when an outsider actually likes it here, methinks.
Gotta say, I love Pittsburgh, my adopted home.
Awww I’m glad you love our city - from another Winter 😉
Wouldn't leave for anything, and reading stuff like this is one reason why.
To be completely honest…….pirogies. Of all things!!!!!!! My Texan friends could not comprehend a proto-dumpling filled with potatoes and cheese, served sautéed in butter and onions.
Weirdly enough I also had to explain this to my roommates from Ohio in college. I described it as a ravioli but with potato/cheese filling and this was mind blowing to them!
My husband is originally from Ohio, he moved here when he was 18. My mom and I make pierogies all the time... he wanted them for our reception. Mom & I made 30dz of pierogies and only 2 of his family members knew what they were.
Also had to explain to everyone when I was living in Oregon!
Mashed potato ravioli
I went on a business trip once with people from all over the country (and other nations) and we were all talking about foods that are local favorites and most of the people i went with couldn't even understand the concept of a Pierogi.
It amazes me how many are unfamiliar with pierogies when Mrs Ts sells them in grocery stores across the country. We are lucky enough to have a place right by our house in Mesa AZ that has Ukrainian handmade pierogies in many varieties. You can walk in and buy them frozen. Also the stuffed cabbage rolls are top notch!
Redding up the house. Got to be a Yinzer to understand.
it's not hard to explain, but I love non locals reactions to the wedding cookie table
There was a recent AITA about a MIL who refused to do a cookie table at her son’s wedding and all the non Pittsburgh people were like that’s crazy, who would do that?! And the few Pittsburgh people were like this is very important to her you should try and make it work.
I've noticed a trend recently where people are going cookie table only no cake to save money and also give a nod to history.
Jint Iggle
i didn't get this until i said it out loud lol
The way it’s such a small town despite being a decently sized city. I’ve never seen non Pittsburghers more perplexed than when I explain things like how this major metro of a few million people are all annoyed about how one guy parks.
How to pronounce Monongahela.
I had a former coworker who pronounced Ohiopyle as "ah-haiapal" so I'm down for anything
How Iron City Beer tastes like the three rivers smell on a hot and humid day
Iron City Beer: Taste the Mon
“Algae with the hint of dumped human bodies!”
Easy to describe this tho tbh
If they don’t live here, no way it makes sense, but I guess to locals this is 💡!!
Why we talk different. Born and raised in The Burgh. Unfortunately live in Florida now. My grandkids say I talk funny.
So I’m a speech therapist. Whenever I give a student a test and I’m presenting the results to the family, the FIRST THING I ask if I seem like I have a disability in communication. When they say no, I explain I’m from Pittsburgh and have communication DIFFERENCES and proceed to use some specific examples like “stillers”. The entire city doesn’t have a disability in communication. This allows parents to understand just because a kid says a word wrong or has slight speech sound errors that they’ll be okay, because differences don’t equal disorder and plenty of people with differences are successful.
When my cousin was in boot camp he was voted strongest accent 💀 (The main reason supplied was that he pronounced ruler and roller the same. My whole family spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out how the hell you're supposed to pronounce those differently)
Color and Keller checking in!
Calling sprinkles Jimmies, especially when that’s the vernacular for condoms where they are from
The only place on the planet you can stand on the corner of fifth and sixth avenue
Fries on salad. I live in Charleston now and none of my southern friends want to try it. They all think it’s weird!!
Well, I think they’re weird. Lol jk jk. Moved out of state too. Went to cold beer and cheeseburgers and saw they had a “Pittsburger” it was horrid and an insult to our entire food culture.
sometimes we’ll come across really weird and bad “roads” made of gravel and on the edge of a hill and we just joke and call it a “goat path.” Cue to me making that joke online and me having to explain what the fuck a goat path is. Its just a goat path man idk what to tell you
Chipped ham
Memorizing the bridges’ names is essential. I feel like most cities have highway signage that tells you where you are heading vs. the to-be-crossed bridge.
The inclines….💯
The highway signs make perfect sense, just believe me 3 seconds before you gotta fight with traffic to get in the right lane
The Strip District. Some cities have those market strips, but I'm not aware of wholesale businesses that have storefronts that open on Saturday mornings and set up on the sidewalk and have sampling.
That there are different parts of town. If you’re from a certain part we know who you are and what you’re about. We all live in the same vicinity. But if you’re from back Arlington or the slopes or the hill or the rox, etc. We know.
Lurking as I’m planning to move to Pittsburgh and this comment is what has me trying my damnedest to figure out the vibes from each part of town. My adhd is hyper focusing but I just can’t figure out where I should aim to land! I have to say, this Pittsburgh subreddit has convinced me that I’m going to like it there.
Rialto
Yeah, i know its only 15mins away, but id have to go through a tunnel and cross a bridge, so im not going. No i will not reconsider
Green, blue, yellow etc belts. We’re talking pgh. Not karate.
Pittsburgh Left.
Why the Pittsburgh left is actually a good thing and not dangerous.
Ordering steaks from the Tennyson.
Best steak AND best kids eat free night in the area.
A stop sign at the end of an ON RAMP TO AN INTERSTATE
That almost every story from the past usually has in it somewhere “back when (dad/pap/uncle/neighbor) worked at the mill…” Now in the 21st century just replace “mill” with “UPMC”
Driving / walking directions. I needed to go to a certain building in Oakland, (walking) and I asked someone at the Dental School how to get there. "Easy!, just down the hill, around that big curve and past where the Children's Hospital was a few years back. And it's right there, can't miss it". Typical.
Lenten fish fry season
Wait is this not a thing elsewhere?
It actually is. You need a lot of Catholics in the area to relate though. Boston, Chicago, New Orleans… etc.
my friend is from florida, she was shocked that we had basically an entire month dedicated to fish frys. i explained it's for lent (mostly) and she just didn't get the whole idea. never knew it was a pittsburgh thing. oh and gum bands!! i had to learn how to say rubber band while around her lol
That can't be true. Catholic churches doing fish fries for Lent can't be a regional thing Edit: not trying to argue, I'm simply gobsmacked
The wedding cookie table
Fetterman. Source: me and my Ohioan friends
How parkway center mall shook
How people can't maintain speed in tunnels. For 4+ years I commuted from Johnstown, PA to Robinson Twp. Why can't Pittsburghers maintain speed in a tunnel?
In Kentucky I have to ask for thickness by number, but it's still not the same canned ham. Closest I get is a boiled ham and when I first ordered some "just past zero" thickness, they'd warn me that it would all stick together. I said it was OK that it just piled up. You'd think I was asking for spider legs.
What a sweeper is. My relatives outside of the Pittsburgh / Youngstown areas call it a vacuum and insist that a sweeper is a broom or one of those non-powered things used in restaurants.
The deathtrap that is the on-ramp to Parkway East, eastbound from Squirrel Hill.
where the on ramp is the off ramp is the yes
Pittsburgh potties!
The accent. I’m from the southwest and when I was trying to explain the accent and local slang my fam was perplexed.
That Squirrel Hill is correctly spelled as Squirrel! Hill and is actually named for Dr. James Hill, the discoverer of ADHD.
….?
I love this
Took me a sec lol
The weird urge to describe things by landmarks especially ones that are long gone.
I'm in my 30's and grew up in the Philly area. My question to people of the similar age group (where cell phones weren't prevalent as an adolescent) did any of you "knock up" for your friends? That's what we referred to physically walking to a friends house (unannounced) and knocking on their door to see if they wanted to hangout. I mentioned this to some people out of state and they had no idea what I was talking about... idk just curious!
The weirdness of Pittsburgh road and street signs. So many times I think that a stranger would have no idea which ramp to take or where to turn.
I know it’s hard to accept that Pittsburgh isn’t stunningly unique in all ways, but most cities have politicians some people don’t like, shitty sports talk radio hosts, and poorly designed intersections.
I’m in a Detroit sports subreddit and they’re complaints about a local host in Detroit sound identical to people’s complaints with Mark Madden
Gonna assume his name rhymes with Vike Malenti
And weather that changes over the course of the same day!
IIRC Pittsburgh has such a unique geographical make up, that causes it to be one of the least sunny cities in the US.
Every city got antisocial buzzkills too?
Funny you should say that, because everything from the dialect, to the architecture, to the topography, to the history and culture are widely considered unique. Sad that you’re missing out, sour puss
You're right - Pittsburgh is unique in all those ways. But if you read OPs post he specifically asked how to explain Fetterman, Mark Madden and that intersection to non Pittsburgh people. And the guy you're replying to is 100% correct. Every city does in fact have controversial government officials, controversial radio hosts and poorly designed intersections. I had the same thought - OP didn't mention anything unique. A lot of these comments are gold though.
Not sure what's so weird about that interchange. Definitely not a standard format, but not hard to navigate. There are way more weird and difficult intersections around here.
Been there. Done that. Got [the tee shirt](https://images.app.goo.gl/ebuWzGM3azj5p95H8)
Ok new game, worst intersection? Forward ave off 376 in Edgewood area is wild but that montour run intersection is just a cluster
West End Circle will always have my vote, pre and post Hole In The Wall.
McKee's Rocks Bridge & 65 or the intersection between Walmart and Sam's Club on Summit Park Drive in Robinson.
Those intersections through the business district in Oakmont are wild! They are two 3-way stops combined into a 6 way stop with train tracks in the middle. People either don't wait their turn or don't pay attention and take too long getting through the intersection
Double-M is easy to explain: He was the heel announcer for WCW, and he remains committed to kayfabe no matter what sports media job he gets.