Welcome to the 'burgh!

As a newbie to the 'burgh (that's Pittsburgh to all yinz from elsewheres), I thought I might chronicle my adventures in this foreign land to all those folks back home (mostly the west coast).

Although I've lived in many places (Reno, Vegas, New York City, Richmond, Seattle...yes, I'm a vagabond), I don't know that I've lived in a place with its own unique language.

It's called Yinz.

(Okay, first correction--it's called Pittsburghese.  If you speak Pittsburghese, you are yinz.  I think.)

I don't speak Pittsburghese.  Yet.  I am not a yinzer.  I do not yet fully comprehend or experience the spiritual plane known as the "state of yinz" (for some reason I think of it as very zen, but in a western PA kind of way)

Some day, I can hope to understand this odd language of flat a's and clever abbreviations.

With this language comes other unique factors that make this city one of the most livable places in the country (eat that, New York...no, wait, eat that Cleveland!).

Yes, Pittsburgh is up and coming, no longer the "hell with the lid off" that it used to be.

In this blog, I'll let you know what I'm learning about this city.

So all yunz grab an imp n arn, put on yir Stiller shirt and come with me as I discover the treasures and oddities of this steel city.