yinz
pronoun
“you” or “y’all” in Pittsburgh
What does yinz mean?
Yinz, sometimes written yunz (or less commonly yins), is a regional pronoun used in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to mean “you,” usually when addressing two or more persons.
Examples of yinz
Anyway, about this time, Abe is getting up to buy the next round. I remember that because it’s so rare. You may know him as Honest Abe, but I’ve seen the guy dodge more bar tabs than Norm Peterson on skates. “What da yinz want,” says Abe.
—Brian O’Neill, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3 Aug. 1994
Their league is really good, but Matt is a terrific coach, plus he’s from Pittsburgh. I don’t know if you heard him say yinz. He said yinz like three teams and I said, You can’t say that outside the city limits.
—Her trepidation rises as the credits roll for “Sirens,” a 3-week-old drama about three female Pittsburgh Police Bureau rookies. … Even the four-digit call signs used for radio transmissions mirror those used here. And then there are the Pittsburgh references. … All that seems to be missing are chipped ham and “yunz.”
—Well, the man said. He turned to the other two. I got to get, myself, he said. We’ll see yins.
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Where does yinz come from?
Yinz/yunz/yins is thought to come from Scots, brought to western Pennsylvania by Scottish immigrants.
Entering the tawdry premises in Glasgow’s Cowcaddens one wintry evening, the nurse behind a small desk didn’t raise her head at my greeting. Thrusting a bottle in my direction, she gestured towards a cubicle. “Over there, Jimmy. Pee in the pot. Trousers aff. Pants aff. Wait for the doctor mannie.” “But I’m from the university. I’ve come to...” “You yins at uni are as bad as everyone else, sonny. Uni or not, it’s nae odds tae me - just pee in the pot.”
—According to Kurath and McDavid, a number of Pennsylvania pronunciations reflect ancestry from Ulster and north Britain. … Today the speech of Pittsburgh (“Pittsburghese”) is noted for such uses as you’uns or yinz ‘you (plural)’ and need + past participle (as needs washed), both brought from Ulster.
—“Yinz,” in turn, is generally considered a version of “yunz,” itself a contraction of the contraction “you-uns,” for “you ones.”
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How is yinz used?
Proudly. In addition to yinz, Pittsburghers also sometimes (also proudly) self-identify with the noun Yinzer.
At Yinzerfest, Nicholas Saxon, executive chef of Braddock’s Rebellion inside the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel in Downtown, will demonstrate how to prepare a vegan black bean-and-beet burger with soy BBQ glaze and pepper jack cheese. He created the dish several years ago while working at another eatery and has noticed growing interest among Yinzers in “Meatless Mondays” and other non-meat options.
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