The Word Yinz

For those of you who read this blog and are not from Pittsburgh, PA or know nothing about the region you may wonder where a word like Yinzertainment comes from. Here is a little background on it. The word is a combination of Yinz and Entertainment, hence Yinzertainment. That is the easy part.

The real question is what is the word Yinz? Yinz is most commonly used in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Appalachian Region. In Pittsburgh it is part of a local dialect known as Pittsburghese. The word is derived from "you ones" and is an alternative to words like you all or "y'all" as many people from the south say. A Typical use would be something like; What are yinz up to today? How are Yinz doing? Where are Yinz going?

For more background on this word and other Pittsburghese check out Wikipedia or the Pittsburgh Speech & Society website

Google Map Mash Ups

Being a Geography major in college, I'm especially drawn to the creativeness of the Google Maps Mashups people have created. I work with maps every day and enjoy finding a good Mashup and exploring it. If you are unaware of what a Google Maps Mashup is, it is when people take the Google Maps code and modify it by adding layers for example all of the pizza places in a city, or places you stopped on a trip, etc. The Mashup I want to introduce today is called Pediax. They have placed Wikipedia information on the map giving the map detail on up to 20 different cities at a time. Check it out, you can literally waste hours playing with these. Enjoy!