| the P.A. : The Polish-American Fire Company in Shenandoah. The only Polish-American volunteer fire company in the country. |
| Pallie Alta : Palo Alto. Town near Port Carbon/Pottsville. "I drove da shortcut tru Pallie Alto to get ta 61 quick." |
| Pallie Boy : A young male from Palo Alto. Subjected to various initiation rites at Pottsville High School. |
| panked down : when your hair is all flattened down. Is this derived from "pancake"? "I got all sweaty wearin me hat, and now my hair is all panked down." |
| paper asshole : reference used when someone makes a stupid remark. Anyone know how this term came about? "Didya hear what that idiot said? He talks like he has a paper asshole!" |
| paper hankies : tissue, Kleenex |
| parlor OR front room OR living room : fancy living room at the front of a row home reserved for special occasions like Christmas or First Holy Communion. In the old days, a corpse was always laid out in the family parlor of the home (see corpse house). As traditions changed, they would be placed in a funeral "parlor". The term "parlor" became attached to the concept of the dead. As fewer people were laid out at home but instead taken to the funeral parlor, the term "living room" came into vogue to indicate that it was not a room for the dead. |
| passed it out : to have passed by, as in a car "I ain't seen that quart store yet; we musta passed it out!" |
| patayta or patayda : potato |
| patch : Any one of many very small communities outside of a town are known as a "patch". When used in Shendo, it usually refers to the Lost Creek, William Penn area between Shendo and Jardville. A patch is smaller than a village, sometimes with only 3 or 4 houses total. It is many times the remnants of company-owned houses from the coal mining days. Some patch names: Yatesville, Big Mine Run, Dark Water. See list of towns and patches. |
| payment : pavement; what you walk on when you're outside. Most everywhere else it's called a "sidewalk". "Shut up or I'll punch ya in da teet and knock ya down on da payment." |
| Peddler's Grave : Grave/drinkin' hole between Brandonville and Mahanoy City. Named after the first murder in the area. A peddler, Jost Folhaber, was killed on this site on August 11, 1797. His alleged killer was Benjamin Bailey of Morristown, NJ. The site of the murder was near the Waste House Dam. Bailey was arrested in Easton and found guilty. He was hanged on January 6, 1798, at which time he confessed his guilt. The gravesite stands alone and is not part of any cemetery. E. T. Everett & Sons placed a stone on the grave at a much later date. |
| pie-anna or pee-anna : piano. " 'member dat girl? She was always playin' da pie-anna when she was a kid." |
| pierogies : An Eastern European delicacy that is pasta in a half-moon shape, filled with potato or other fillings. See recipe. |
| the piles : hemorrhoids |
| pig-shit alley : the street in Shendo that ran along the bottom of the mountain at the north end of town. Girard Avenue? |
| pigs in a blanket (or piggies or pigeons or blind pigeons) : an English-friendly name for halupkies. In the southern U.S., pigs in a blanket are breakfast sausages wrapped in a pancake. |
| pilla pillow |
| piss-da-beds : dandelions. According to coal region kid's legend, if you touched a dandelion, when you went to sleep that night you would wet the bed. True fact: The French word for dandelion is "pissenlit". "lit" means "bed", "en" means "on", and "piss" means...well, "piss". Also called "pee-the-beds". Note that the dandelion was imported to America by the French and English, to make a diuretic. |
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| pissin' up a rope : a feat considered difficult, if not impossible "You'll never be able ta do dat! Dat's like pissin' up a rope!" |
| pissymayer (piss-ee-my-er), pissants, or pissyants : an ant (technical term: pismire). "Hey, dere's a bunch 'a pissymayers roun' da sink!" |
| pitchers : pictures. " Do you get a free roll of fil-em when you get your pitchers developed at the Ack-a-me?" |
| pitnick : picnic. "I tink St. Nick's pitnick is next weekend." |
| pitz or pitza : pizza. Common in Hazleton. Apparently, a certain pizzeria once received pizza boxes that had "pitz" or "pitza" misprinted on the top. The name stuck. Also usually referred to as a "pan" of pitz. A slice is referred to as a "cut" of pitz. "Wanna go fer a panna pitz after da game?" |
| pizza pie : anywhere else, it's just pizza. In da region, it's "pizza PIE". |
| platter : in a restaurant, an entree usually with one or two side orders. "There's hardly any place around anymore where ya can get a nice platter!" |
| plickie : a very short haircut, just about a shaved head. Common for young boys to get for the summer. |
| Plimmit : Plymouth, PA |
| pock-a-book : pocketbook or purse. "I know I put dat lottree ticket in my pockabook, but now I can't find it." |
| pogie : the poorhouse. Not to be confused with "pokie", a common term for "jail". |
| pole line : the right-of-way where high voltage power lines are located. " Yo, let's go up da pole line for a few kortz, da cops never come up dere, da frick!" |
| Polish Poconos : Shenandoah Heights. Also used for the Boytown area of Shamokin. |
| poochies : bedroom slippers. "I brung my poochies wit me so's my feet don't be cold." |
| the pool : any of a variety of raffles, football game bets, or numbers games used as a gambling alternative to the lotree. |
| pork-choppers : Portuguese. "Did yiz get dose subs from Manny's? He's a pork-chopper, ya know." |
| Porta Rikka : Puerto Rico. "Dem are porta rikkans, I tink." |
| Pothole Parkway : the Central Scranton Expressway. |
| pounder : 16-ounce can of beer. Any true-blue region transplant should have a few pounders in "the fridg" at all times. |
| prit 'near : pretty near; considerably close to "It's prit' near half past five." |
| prolly : probably. "We'll prolly stop up Tony's later fer a screamer." |
| Proosey : Protestant. "He's not a Catlick, he's a Proosey." |
| Publics : opposite of Catlicks. "Dey ain't Catlicks, dey're Publics." |
| puck : to punch, always in the face or mouth. "If you don't shuddup, I'll give ya a good puck inna mout!" |
| pudogies : pierogies |
| The Pumpie : short for "The Pumping Station". Some kind of water authority owned property that served as a popular fishing spot north of Shendo. |
| punkin : pumpkin. "Let's carve some punkins for Halloween." |
| punkinball : a large lead bullet fired from a shotgun |
| puss : slang term for 'face'. Usually used when you're going to 'puck' someone in the 'puss'. |
| puss full : drunk. "Yo, didja see Butchie last night? Whoa, he had a puss full!" |
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