Residents of PA please read....Thanks!

[jessesgirl08]

My grandparents are originally from PA and I wanna know as much about it as possible. My grandmother told me many stories about growing up in new castle PA and since she passed away a few years ago I have become more interested in finding out more about PA. I hopr to visit someday in the future. I am putting togehter a scrapbook with old photos of my grandma growing up and of my grandparents early dating and married years and i would love any info or pics you can send me of places around PA. Also would feel very lucky if i could find someone who actually knew my grandma and family in some way but that is just wishful thinking i guess. any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[rmrdaddy]

That's wayyy out there jessesgirl. My people are originally South Philly folks, but New Castle PA is just over the border from Youngstown Ohio! That's 370 some miles from Philly!

 

[CigarSmokePhilosopher]

thats a little under 2 hours northwest of the blairsville area, where i went to school for a year. It was very very beautiful, all the back roads are abandoned and twisty like they are here in oklahoma except they are ALL PAVED!!! such a big deal to me i love a country drive

there are lots of round-abouts, no shortage of breath-taking views of the mountains/hills. Did I MENTION hills yet? tons of hills. good luck finding flat ground/road, its pretty much non-existant. it snows and rains alot. the winters are dismally cold/windy. the summer/spring/early fall times are perfect and never unbearably hot. Would I live there? You bet, but I preferred West Virginia, and spent a LOT of time there during my year stay in PA. You pretty much can't go wrong living in the NE though unless you live in Philly and have no money

oh, and stay out of Pittsburgh unless your strictly in the old downtown area (which is really neat), its kinda trashy and there aint much to be had.

 

[David Conwill]

stay out of Pittsburgh unless your strictly in the old downtown area (which is really neat), its kinda trashy and there aint much to be had.

Uh oh, really? Here in Michigan they keep telling us that Pittsburg's comeback after the demise of the steel industry is a good role model for post-Motor City Detroit.

-Dave

 

[dhermann1]

Pittsburgh did make a big comeback, but it didn't last. The general economy of western Pa continued to slide as the major industries (mainly Steel, but also oil and coal) dwindled. There are some amazing little semi derelict small towns scattered all over the state. They can look appallingly dreary and depressing, but they can also have great charm. There are thousands of wonderful old late 19th century industrial buildings as well. Keep in mind that in the "Golden Era", or late 19th and early to mid 20th century, surprisingly small towns would have had down towns more built up than a lot of more modern big cities today. They all had a nice little hotel or 2, a nice department store, a mens store, ladies dress shops, etc.
They all had trolleys. There was an interurban system that stretched from Maine to the foothills of the Rockies 100 years ago.
The presence of those 3 industries in Pennsylvania can't be overstressed. Almost every town had refineries, mines or mills. And they were dirty and stinky. I've driven south along the Alleghany River in the 50's and 60's, through places like Oil City, Rousseville, etc. The refineries, especially at night, were like stage sets of hell. Huge metal structures, with smoke and flame and evil smells belching out of them.
Also, I'd have to say that western Pa has the weirdest accent in the whole country. It's some sort of combination of hillbilly and cockney. And among some older folks it's so thick you can cut it with a knife. They have a lot of very odd turns of phrase. They use the past tense as an adjective a lot. For example they'll say "The house needs cleaned." Or, to use a local colloquialism, they'll say "I have to redd up the house." And the lilt of the sentences is odd, too. You have to hear it to believe it.
And then there's the eastern part, which is less hilly and industrial. That's the old Pennsylvania Dutch (really German) area.
Pennsylvania has one of the most densely rich state cultures in the country. It has a great sense of history. It has vast areas of total wilderness. You should come and see for yourself!

 

[Foofoogal]

You may want to try the boards at http://usgenweb.org/
Go to PA state and then county and you may find a lot of not only info but pictures as well.
Each state is represented and has volunteers to add items.

 

[CharlieB]

They have a lot of very odd turns of phrase. They use the past tense as an adjective a lot. For example they'll say "The house needs cleaned." Or, to use a local colloquialism, they'll say "I have to redd up the house." And the lilt of the sentences is odd, too. You have to hear it to believe it.
And then there's the eastern part, which is less hilly and industrial. That's the old Pennsylvania Dutch (really German) area.
Pennsylvania has one of the most densely rich state cultures in the country. It has a great sense of history. It has vast areas of total wilderness. You should come and see for yourself!

Just to tag on a few comments to this good explanation. PA has a rather strange condition in that we don't have much of a "state" identity, as we do many local "indentities". This comes from the history of how William Penn origniated the colony as an early melting pot. That is why you get the answers about regionality.

FYI - a lot of our strange PA expressions are from old low German (i.e., Pennsylvania Dutch), but "read up your room" is actually Scotts-Irish, another large immigrant group.

one prime example of a PA German expression:

"it's all" - means there's none left.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

I grew up in western Pennsylvania. My father worked as a machinist in the steel mill (that's "still mill" in Western Pennsylvanian English) across the street from our house. My mother would make his lunch each morning, put it in the "lunch bucket" and walk across the street to pass it to him through the chain link gates which were chained and locked, but had enough play to pass the bucket between them.

My father's father was also a machinist, but at another steel mill. My great grandfather was the first generation of the family to settle there after emigrating from Hesse in the mid 19th century. The first census record of him says that he worked as a farrier (someone who shoes horses), so he was in iron work as well.

My mother's side of the family also originates in western Pennsylvania. They were farmers farther north, in Crawford County.

Yes, we have some words peculiar to our area, and the accent is very distinct as well. Someone who is inappropriately curious about others' personal matters is said to be "nebby". "Neb" is the same word as "nose" and originates, so far as I can tell, in the north of England. I think "read up" for tidying up is from "ready up". While the Bronx has "youz" and the south has "y'all" in western Pennsylvania we have "younz" or "yinz", as in "When are yinz guys goin' to the ball game?"

I grew up there in the 1950's and 1960's, so ask away. I'll see if I can fill you in. I still have friends in my home town, so we might be able to fill you in on local color.

 

[CharlieB]

I grew up in western Pennsylvania. My father worked as a machinist in the steel mill (that's "still mill" in Western Pennsylvanian English) across the street from our house. My mother would make his lunch each morning, put it in the "lunch bucket" and walk across the street to pass it to him through the chain link gates which were chained and locked, but had enough play to pass the bucket between them.

My father's father was also a machinist, but at another steel mill. My great grandfather was the first generation of the family to settle there after emigrating from Hesse in the mid 19th century. The first census record of him says that he worked as a farrier (someone who shoes horses), so he was in iron work as well.

My mother's side of the family also originates in western Pennsylvania. They were farmers farther north, in Crawford County.

Yes, we have some words peculiar to our area, and the accent is very distinct as well. Someone who is inappropriately curious about others' personal matters is said to be "nebby". "Neb" is the same word as "nose" and originates, so far as I can tell, in the north of England. I think "read up" for tidying up is from "ready up". While the Bronx has "youz" and the south has "y'all" in western Pennsylvania we have "younz" or "yinz", as in "When are yinz guys goin' to the ball game?"

I grew up there in the 1950's and 1960's, so ask away. I'll see if I can fill you in. I still have friends in my home town, so we might be able to fill you in on local color.

And remember, they drink "pop", not "soda" (as we would in the central or eastern portion of the state)

 

[Adcurium]

I was born and raised iin Northeastern PA (NEPA, to those in the know), so I doubt I can be of any help.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

From the Alleghenies, west.

And remember, they drink "pop", not "soda" (as we would in the central or eastern portion of the state)

"Soda" is, so far as I can tell, particular to the Atlantic seaboard, say from the Allegheny Mountains on east. "Pop" carries on westward across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and on west.

In the South, carbonated soft drinks are referred to (or at least were by the guys I went to college with) as "coke", something similar to the way acetylsalicylic acid is generally called "asprin", which is actually a trade name, or facial tissues are often called "kleenex", even though that, too, is a trade name.

Please correct me, if someone from Chicago or Minneapolis knows differently.

 

[CharlieB]

"Soda" is, so far as I can tell, particular to the Atlantic seaboard, say from the Allegheny Mountains on east. "Pop" carries on westward across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and on west.

In the South, carbonated soft drinks are referred to (or at least were by the guys I went to college with) as "coke", something similar to the way acetylsalicylic acid is generally called "asprin", which is actually a trade name, or facial tissues are often called "kleenex", even though that, too, is a trade name.

Please correct me, if someone from Chicago or Minneapolis knows differently.

Actually, according to a study I read once, the country is split about 50-50 on the Soda/pop issue. Either way, we (easterners) like to pick on it whenever we can

 

[charminglane]

My grandparents are originally from PA and I wanna know as much about it as possible. My grandmother told me many stories about growing up in new castle PA and since she passed away a few years ago I have become more interested in finding out more about PA. I hopr to visit someday in the future. I am putting togehter a scrapbook with old photos of my grandma growing up and of my grandparents early dating and married years and i would love any info or pics you can send me of places around PA. Also would feel very lucky if i could find someone who actually knew my grandma and family in some way but that is just wishful thinking i guess. any help is greatly appreciated!

I grew up in Broomall, PA. Just outside of Philadelphia. My grandparents owned Bob's Grill at 68th and Chester. My Dad's side of the family worked for Atlantic Refining/Atlantic Richfield/ARCO.
I live near you, now, in Monrovia. Ask away!