| s'ter : Sister, nun. "S'ter, s'ter, Tommy's pukin! Get out the ZGOOP!" |
| sail cat : A cat that's been run over so many times, you can pick it up and sail it. |
| sammich, samwich, sangwich : sandwich. The latter pronunciation appears to be used in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. |
| Sanny Claus : the guy who delivers presents to kids at Christmas. |
| scamutz : (pronounced ska-MOOTZ) scamorza cheese. Similar to mozzarella. Served on pitz from two popular locations in Hazleton. Check out scamorza on the web. |
| scenic railway : rollercoaster |
| schnutty : in the northeast plumbing industry, this means thread sealant or pvc glue |
| schwaggin' : drinking (boozing), usu. at a bush party. Could be derived from swig. "We're goin' schwaggin' up da bush" |
| Schweitzer cheese : Swiss cheese. So called because in German, Switzerland is "die Schweiz." Swiss, the adjective, is "Schweizer." |
| Scra'un, Scran, Scra'in : various pronunciations of Scranton, commonly pronounced with the middle consonants skipped. |
| screamer hamburger from Tony's Lunch in Gun-town that consists of a buttered roll, hamburger patty, hot sauce, and onions. "I'm starvin, yo. Let's get some screamers." Traditional order: 2 screamers, fries (homemade), and 2 cartons of chocolate milk. See also growler and dead burger. |
| scobbed : picked clean, as a huckleberry bush. "I'm gonna wait and go for swampers; the huckleberries are all scobbed" |
| scuttle : a coal bucket; a bucketlike vessel, narrow at the bottom and with a wide mouth, used for carrying or holding coal. |
| Sen-Sens : See cin-cins. |
| seen : commonly used instead of "saw". "Don't tell me yiz wasn't dere, I seen yiz wit my own eyes!". |
| 7th Heaven : Drinkin' hole somewhere near Raven Run. |
| Shendo, Shando, Shanado, Shandore, Shenado, Shanadore, Shanadaw, Shenandoor, Chendo : various pronunciations of Shenandoah, PA, the quintessential Coal Region town. Not to be confused with the more famous Shenandoah, Virginia. In the Scranton area, Shenandoah is known as "Shannondorsky". "Yo, Chendo, 462, da f***." |
| Shendo shrimp : Jax cheese curls, sometimes served with cocktail sauce like a shrimp cocktail. (need some verification on this; has anyone actually seen this served?) |
| shafted : broken, not working correctly. "I hit dat yooj pothole wit my car and now my front end is all shafted, da frick!" Also can mean deceived or ripped off. |
| Shamokin head : used in Shamokin and Coal Township when a bartender gives you too much head on your draft beer. "What's this? Givin' me a Shamokin Head now?" |
| shanty or shandy : a small shed or shack. Sometimes used as slang for a house. "Oooh, what a nice shanty you live in!" |
| sheeny : a peddler or street vendor, usually someone who bought and sold used articles, rags, or scrap metal. Perhaps derived from the word "shiny", i.e. worn out clothes have a shiny look. Also called "rag man". This term is not used so much anymore, as its usage has become a derogatory term (usually toward a Jewish person). In the old days, a common threat to kids was "If you don't behave yourself, we'll sell ya to the sheeny." |
| shiftin' clothes : work clothes, overalls. |
| shiftin' shanty : the place where miners and laborers used to change clothes before going back home. |
| shit creek : a creek in which water is rumored to be tainted with sewage. |
| shit da pants : an improperly toilet-trained child, or an expression of disapproval. "He knocked over his mom's best lamp and broke it. Da little shit da pants!" |
| shitload : a large quantity. "Our lad drank a shitload a' beer last night. Yo, was he plastered ever!" |
| shit don't stink : the expression "He thinks his shit don't stink!" is used to describe someone who thinks they are more important or sophisticated than they really are. |
| Shmokin : Shamokin. A Coal Region town west of Ashland on Route 61. |
| shoe is open : when your shoelace is untied. "Yo, wait up! My shoe is open; I gotta tie it." |
| shooting the 'Y' : driving the wrong way through the Y-intersection between Ashland and Girardville (where the High Road meets the Low Road). People have written me stating that this actually does happen. |
| Sister school : Catholic (Parochial) school. So called because all the teachers were nuns (a.k.a. 'Sisters'). "What kinda language is dat? Don't tell me ya learned ta talk like dat in Sister school !" |
| skatchuda : (pronounced "ska-CHOO-da") To be stingy or a cheapskate. Anyone know the etymology of this one? Does it come from "Scotch", as in Scottish? "Y'ain't seen yer brudder in 15 years and ya won't buy'im a beer? Skatchuda!" |
| sleigh ridin' : A favorite wintertime activity for kids in the coal region, especially on a school snow day. Most of the country seems to call this sledding, which may actually be more correct since a sleigh is the big huge thing that Santa Claus rides in. But whether you were riding a wooden sled, a toboggan, an aluminum saucer dish, a shovel, or just flat on your back in your parka, it will always be "sleigh riding" in the coal region. Then after you got tired of sleigh riding, you could always play "King of the Mountain" on the huge piles of snow that the plows pushed up. What fun! |
| slidin' board : the children's park or playscape item that kids slide down. To the rest of the world, it's a slide. To the coal region, it's a slidin' board. |
| slippy : slippery. "Don't walk on the ice, it's slippy." |
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| slow as molasses in January : an expression desribing someone or something that is moving very slowly. "Will ya come on already? Yer as slow as molasses in January!" |
| slug : a drink of something, usually something strong like coffee or whiskey. From the Irish Gaelic noun "slog", meaning "swallow". "I'll be right with you after I get a slug of coffee." Compare swig . |
| Smokey Hollow : a swimming hole above the William Penn baseball field on the road going to Raven Run. Another rumored skinny-dipping spot. |
| the Snakey : the winding road leading into Mt. Carmel |
| snipes : cigarette butts "The checks must be late; old Danny's pickin' snipes" |
| snoot full, half a snoot full : to be inebriated, or partially inebriated |
| snot rag : handkerchief |
| Sonza Itlee : Sons of Italy. A popular bar in Girardville. Supposedly where all the Irish guys hang out. Also known as "da Sons". "I'm goin' down da Sonz fer a beer." |
| sorry fer yer troubles : standard greeting to relatives of the deceased at a viewing or wake. Saves the visitor the anxiety of fretting about what to say. Could be of Irish origin. |
| soupies : short for "Soppressatta", which in Southern Italian dialect is pronounced SOO-BRA-SAHD. It's a sausage similar to salami, usually made with pork, lemon peel and spices. Soppressatta means "compressed". Soupies are pig intestines stuffed with meat and spices (like sausage), then tossed into a vat of olive oil and cured. Very popular in Kulpmont. They are called "soupresat" in South Philadelphia. Can also be made with venison. |
| souse : (rhymes with mouse) A gelatin-like substance, somehow made by pickling pigs feet. Yet another Shamokin culinary treat. |
| south of the mountain : south of the Broad Mountain, the stretch of mountain between Frackville and Saint Clair. The Broad Mountain roughly divides the heart of the Schuylkill coal region from the rest of the county. Used by nuns to intimidate children and make them feel inferior to the cultured classes in Pottsville, Reading and Philly. "You'll find out when you go south of the mountain that you can't get away with that everywhere." |
| spelt : spelled. See tink |
| spicket : faucet, spigot. "Turn off the spicket, yiz are wastin water." |
| sprag : to drag or scrape one's feet on the ground. The dictionary defines this as a noun: "...a steel bar let down from a halted vehicle (as a wagon) to prevent it from rolling." I suspect something like this was used to keep coal cars from rolling. This word is used as a verb in the coal region, e.g. "I got goin' down the hill so fast on my bike I had to sprag my feet to slow down". |
| the Squeeze Inn : An extremely narrow luncheonette pressed between two large buildings on Market Street in Sunbury. |
| stand for, stood for : to be part of a wedding party, as a groomsman or bridesmaid. "I'm goin' back home to stand for my brudder's wedding." |
| statey : State Trooper. "Hide your kortz, there's a statey!" |
| stickers, sticker bushes, sticky-bushes : thorn or brier bushes. "I was up da back drinkin' and I went to take a leak and fell in da sticker bushes, da frick!!" |
| stickin' : sticking (to the ground, as snow). "It's snowin' real hard, but it ain't stickin'." |
| stinkin : a bad odor. "That skunk is stinkin." |
| stoker : a furnace. Originally a term for coal-fired furnaces since you had to stoke the coal to keep it burning. Many people still refer to their newer, oil-burning furnace as their stoker. |
| stoled : past tense of steal. |
| stoont : someone who is studying something. "He's a stoont at Main Campus". |
| stoopit : stupid. "He ain't just ignernt, he's stoopit." |
| stove rags : made from leftover mashed potatoes and mixed with flour. Use plenty of butter and fry in the frying pan. Sometimes called "luchi" or "loksie". |
| straighten the house : to clean and/or neaten up the house. "We got comp-ny comin', I better straighten the house" |
| strippin hole, strippin pit : strip mine hole. "Dey found his ole lad drownd inna strippin pit." |
| submarine races : euphemism for makin' out at the Susquehanna River "So, were ya out watchin' the submarine races last night?" |
| sugar diabetes : diabetes. For some reason, diabetes is many times referred to as "sugar diabetes" in the coal region. Parents used to warn children that eating too much sugar would give you "the sugar diabetes". "Hey, didja hear that Whitey had a leg off? He's got the sugar diabetes." |
| Sulphur crik : creek near Raven Run. Prior to 1940, nothing lived in it because the sulphur content was so high. In the 40's it made for a very refreshing skinnydip. |
| summer sausage : Lebanon bologna. |
| summer water : drinking water which the city (Sunbury) took from the Susquehanna during summers with long droughts. Yum! |
| supposubly : supposedly |
| swallee : swallow. "Cripes, dat medicine tastes so horrible I can hardly swallee it!" |
| swampers : large, dark, late-season blueberries that grow on high bushes. See also scobbed |
| sweartagod : swear to God. An oath affirming you are telling the truth. "It wasn't me! I din't do nothin' yo, I sweartagod!" |
| sweeper : vacuum cleaner. "We have comp'ny comin' later on, so I hafta run the sweeper". |
| swift kick in the ass : years ago, a commonly prescribed punishment for youthful wrongdoers. "He's baggin school again? What dat kid needs is a good, swift kick in the ass!" |
| swig : (sometimes pronounced using the Irish pronunciation "shwig") to take a quick drink or gulp, usually of soda or beer. Compare slug. |
| switch : a thin branch of a tree, with all the leaves stripped off. Used by parents to smack kids when they were bad.. "Keep behaving like that and I'm gonna get the switch!" or "You're gonna get your ass switched!" |
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