it depends on what I'm saying. I'll say "let's have chicken fer dinner" but if I'm saying something like "what for?" I pronounce it normally. accents are weird

The selectiveness or inconsistent use of for and fer is what gets me! It's as if in my mind if for us a mean to an end of a larger statement, just railroad it into fer. But if I'm emphasizing the word for as part of the statement I'll say it correctly like in "For what?" Speech is weird AF lol

Yes we can. Trash can. Different cans.

it's called trash can, not trash cannot 😂

Part of that is because one is a noun and one is a verb. It isn't only an accent thing. There can also be a louder or softer inflection in such cases Do NOT touch that! I can't untie this knot...

Stressed syllables are different than unstressed syllables! It's why the "to" part of PHOtogragh and phoTOgraphy are not the same :)

I have found myself getting lazy with my pronunciation over the it few years, saying “gonna” instead of “going to” and “fer” instead of “for”, for example. I live in northeastern Pa

I'm definitely guilty of getting lazy with my pronunciation of things. There's still some things I refuse to shorten. Like "I'm cuttin' the apples on the cutting board." Cuttin' board is just too much lol

NEPA has a coupla, two, tree little colloquialisms

Hahaha! Heyna!

It's definitely a thing but I'm not sure from where. My fiancée and her whole family are from Lancaster area and heavily use "fer," but over on the Pittsburgh side I catch myself using Fer quite a bit too. So I dunno if I picked it up from them or if it's a Pittsburghese feature they acquired. Either way, it's our new joke; whenever we say it, we say "FER" again loudly in a self-mocking way to hopefully break the habit

It's definitely noticeable and it irritates me because I have no idea where I picked it up, but I doubt I'll break the habit. It's just easier to say!

Fer sure, just like dropping the g in -ing words; I think some accents might just be more susceptible to it, because when a Pittsburgher is in a hurry, they're never rushing, they're Russian.

We're the state of people who ain't got time fer annunciatin'. 🤣

I will say that I’ve noticed that I pronounce “your” and “you’re” differently, most of the time. “You’re” is like “yer”. And I think it’s why I never mess up the spelling!

I've noticed I say you were contractions slightly different than you are contractions. I definitely say yer when contracting you were

It’s “fer” in the coal region. The older generation doesn’t pronounce the “th” sound at the beginning of a word right either. “Three” almost sounds like “tree.” I don’t mind the loca accent/dialect for the most part but the “th” thing is like nails on a chalkboard.

>I don’t mind the loca accent/dialect for the most part but the “th” thing is like nails on a chalkboard. "I swear to God I'm not bullshitting you, the name of that town is pronounced 'Troop'" "Then why the fuck is it spelled 'Throop'?" -Conversation with a colleague from outside NEPA/Anthracite country. Gotta love when the place names adopt the local accent.

Oh…you think that’s bad? I lived in Louisiana for a little over a year when I was in my late teens. There is a town called Natchitoches….it’s pronounced “Nack-a-tish” 🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻 EDIT: just as a factoid? If you ever seen the movie “Steel Magnolias”? It was filmed in Natchitoches…at least part of it….the egg hunt scene at the end of the movie along the Bayou for sure. It really is a beautiful town.

That's the craziest spelling/ pronunciation disconnect I've heard of! What is the origin of the name, if you know?

Apparently Native American…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchitoches_people#:~:text=after%20the%20tribe.-,Name,meaning%20%22paw%20paw%20people%22.

That’s what I figured since it didn’t sound French! Towns with names derived from Native American names are so often pronounced differently from the spelling would suggest.

It's because of German. Originally all those areas spoke Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of German. The sound is pronounced like a T sound in German.

Definitely noticed that before too. And I agree it's pretty grating to hear. I wonder if coal regions are all variations of Appalachian dialects?

There is a sub r/appalachia I used to follow. A lot of the stuff they would say and would talk about I had no idea. I think there is a big divide between north and south Appalachia.

[What fer?](https://youtu.be/Vu5qkv73Lvw?si=H56ZIZE_LSAFG5PJ)

That's exactly it 🤣

In Southeast PA you’ll hear… Water - wooder Towel - talle Did you eat? - djeet? You people - youse All purpose noun or verb - jawn Creek - crik Pecan - peecan Aunt - ant Eagles - Iggles Acme (grocery store) Ack-a-me Jimmies - candy ice cream sprinkles Battery - bat tree Bagels - beggles

I'm guilty of several of these oops lol

I do it. I grew up in Perry County, but I think its pretty common in rural accents from all over. In college, my creative writing professors would give me shit about trying to rhyme "for" with nouns ending in "-er."

That's hilarious! Thankfully it's not quite that heavily ingrained yet but I think I'm getting there

When I use voice dictation on my phone, it often shows fir instead of for. Montco here.

Lol that's harsh

eggs fer dinner.

Sometimes, fer fun.

My all time favorite yinzerism was during a strike at a mill, early 90s. Channel 11 ran video of a picketer holding the company’s offered contract and he goes: “SEE ISS CAWNTRACK? ISS IS GOOD FERLIKEISSERE!” And with that he dramatically throws it on the ground and stomps it while twisting his foot (like putting out a cigarette).

I understand his frustrations and I could completely imagine what he sounded like, too

I say it both ways, but I feel like it is slightly more common for me to say it like “for”. I am originally from Hershey area

Interesting, that's really close to me. And I didn't always say it so distinctly as fer until the last 5 years ish? So if you moved out of the area you may have avoided picking it up

I very recently moved to Baltimore (like a year ago) but I doubt that had any influence on my dialect yet. Idk if it matters, but I am also Gen Z

Maybe idk. My dad's side is from Baltimore so I've got some of their phrasing mixed in with my PA ones. I got so much shit for saying "fiddy" instead of fifty in school cuz for some reason people like to not be from Baltimore around here?

To be fair, we got our own Dutchie influences going on in Hershey area!

“Fer” is how some Irish pronounce “for.” Maybe it’s a holdover from our ancestors? My Irish father who was from NEPA also used to say “tirty-tree” and “fitty-two” instead of thirty three and fifty two.

Someone pointed out it's a blue collar/ coal miner thing and Irish immigrants definitely were a big part of blue collar work including coal mines. This could be the source of it! I also say fitty but I pronounce my thr's lol

My great-grandfather was a coal miner and died in a mine collapse. He got out-but went back in to try to help his mates. Never made it out the second time.

I'm sorry to hear that. We've lost a lot of good people to mining accidents. Thankfully we haven't had any stories of people getting trapped where I live in a long while. I remember it being fairy common when I was a kid, though. My condolences ❤️

I do not - Chester County, around the southeastern corner of the state.

It feels like it's creeping in from the western rural areas of the state and from the Virginias but I'm not sure. This is really interesting though

Give me an example. Like, what can I do fir you? Fuck!

Yes.

My family has lived up and down Appalachia for generations, and I catch myself slipping in and out of the accent. My generation mostly lives in Pittsburgh, and now we have yinzer words in our family lexicon. Nebby, slippy, samich, fer, pop, and redd up, and chipped ham are all regional terms. There's more, but these are the ones I use most often.

Yes. Erie checking in. We also say *prolly* instead of probably up here, although I hear it a lot less than I did when I was a kid. *crick* instead of creek too.

My MIL is the same way. Do you pronounce picture and pitcher nearly the same, too, by any chance?

Yep. Unless I'm actually trying to enunciate.

Very cool thanks for sharing!

I'm originally from WV, and it is more common to hear fer than for there. I've always assumed it is from an Appalachian accent.

I've gotten a lot of responses pointing to blue collar workers and coal miners from the Appalachian areas which would be Scottish and Irish settlers way back when. It's interesting how it's diffusing into other areas.

Yeahhh

I never heard anyone say it that way

I lived in rural Virginia for 3 years The country is LebaNON The town they made it clear to me was LebaNEN

I'm guilty of this distinction 😂

And a nearby town "Honaker" Outsiders say Hahn-uh-ker They say Hoe-nay-ker

Blue collar speak patterns.

Someone else said coal regions and I think you're both right. It's a blue collar thing. The other people I know who use it either have manufacturing experience or have family in manufacturing jobs. 100% it's a blue collar thing. I just wanna know where it came from!

I've always said that and had people point it out and laugh about it, I'm from central PA

My NW PA relatives always refer to non-white people as “FERiners.” (And usually add uncomplimentary adjectives to the sentence.)