Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-04
They Used 10 Say in Other Cities We
Had No Pretty Girls.
SMOKE MADE THEM LIKE SQUAWS.
Then the Report Got Out That Nobody Ever
Cracked Smile Here.
COMMENTS ON THE PEOPLES ENGLISH
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. ]

lnlS was raLner surprise 10 me, IOr uau
not noticed any very marked difference of
speech between Pittsburgers and people of
other cities. Had the criticism come from
Boston would have thought less OF it, per-
haps, but Chicago is supposed to be more
broadly tolerant in matters of phraseology.
So with some trepidation I asked for details
and proof.
Well, the chief peculiarity it seemed, lay
in the unusual and unwarranted use Of the
verb 'to git" Would he give an example?
He had no hesitation In doing so, and he
proceeded to report from memory a converse
tion he had heard between two young
women in Pittsburg street car.
''Did you git to go to the party the other
night?' one of them asked of the other.
ibid L git to go!'' was the emphatic re-
sponse. 81 didn't git to hear of it till the
next day, let alone glttin' to go!''
That was the startling example of lingual
depravity cited by my Chicago acouaint-
ance. During some years of residence in the
atmosphere OF smoke 1 had never become
familiar with any such habit of speech, and
I told him so. But in spite of my assurances
he evidently clung to the belief that s'git to
60" is an inherent element of Pittsburg Ian
guage.
ONE THE OTHER WAY.
On the other hard Pittsburger who had
been on a visit to Philadelphia once told
me, as a curious fact concerning the Quaker
City, that nobody living iu the part OF the
city north of Market street was ever recog-
nized as having any social standing what
ever. Also that ladies living south of Mar
ket street were very careful not to risk their
social position by walking on the north side
of any street they might be on, or by occu-
pving seat on the north side of any
theater. This gentleman was one Of
many. He was the exponent of an idea that
prevails far and wide concerning the city
of Penn. But it is an idea that does not
prevail to any extent in Philadelphia itself;
and it is source of amused surprised to
Philadelphians when it is brought to their
notice.
''Do people really believe that ?'' they
ask. People do believe it, not only in
Pittsburg, but in many another city And
they will probably continue to believe it;
and all because there are few pronounced
and aggressive fools among the million or
so of human beings inbabiting Philadel-
phia.
Among the multitude of people living in
Pittsburg whose English as she is spoke"
is beyond reproach, there are undoubtedly
some who habitually say ''git to go;" but
what Pittsburger would not be amazed to
have those lew proclaimed as setting the
standard of language for the population of
the entire great city?
ISOLATED CASES DON'T COUNT.
Living south of Market street, in Phila-
DELI mia, are few anticipates who insist
that their geographical position is the only
test of high respectablIity. But living be-
side them in the same favored locality is
preponderance of sensible people who laugh
at the preposterous nonsense of their neigh
bors, and who are SO confident of their own
respectability that they never think of
north and south latitude as affecting it.
And there is q vast population living in the
northern part of the city in such pleasant
ness and elegance that they would doubt the
wits of any one who should question their
being we'll and properly placed. So, also,
it will not do to set down the millions of
New Workers as having no social existence
because the few hundred snobs OF Gotham
know them not.
The moral of all of which is that nobody
can fairly judge cityiul of people by an
individual specimen here and there. But
of course there is not the slightest use in
urging that moral, Tor Judgment will con-
tinue to be passed just the same as if nobody
had ever shown the fallacy of it.
Really don't suppose another city in the
country ever had so much injustice done it
by casual judges as Pittsburg; and 1 am
quite sure no city ever took tine matter so
little to heart. The children of the fire.
hearted city knew their mother we'll and
loved her. If those who were not her chill
dren found only the blemishes and knew
nothing of the endearing qualities, why SO
much the worse for them. The loss was
theirs NOT nurs and xvp had no call tn Ia
ment it.
SAID WE HAD NO PRETTY GIRLS.
1t was in the days of long ago, when
smoke was the thing most In evidence, that
misjudgment was most rife. And looming
out of the smoke was one false conclusion
that did stir to resentment the heart of the
Plttsburg man-still more, perhaps, the
heart of the PIttsburg woman who heard it
announced. 1t was the verdict of ignor-
ance concerning the womankind of Pitts
burg. I do not refer to the assertion that
the mothers OF the Smoky City were obliged
to wash the faces of all the children playing
near their doors before they could identify
their own offspring That was rather an ex-
travagant joke, although have been asked
In all seriousness by strangers whether such
a state of aIairs did not really exist.
But this that L speak of related rather to
the maidens than to the matrons OF Pitts
burg, and it involved their claims to beauty
and fairness. Think of large class of the
population of the United States living and
dying in the belief that pretty girl was a
physical impossibility in Pittsburg! To us
who know that not even Baltimore is more
richly endowed with female loveliness than
Pttsburg such error seems wildly impos-
slble 1t had a very real and a very wide
spread existence, however, in the smoky
DAYS referred to- And many time l have
heard exclamations of surprise from visit
ing strangers as they looked upon the many
well-fayored damsels-and matrons too-to
be seen. OF course one visit, ever so brief,
was sufficient to annihilate all the super
sttion concerning the female unloveliness
of Pittsburg But those whose fortune 1T
was not to make the one visit doubtless died
In the pagan faith.
BY WAY OF ILLUSTRATION.
"I hear you have just come from Pitts
burg" said a lady in another city to Pitts
burg girl of cream and rose complexion
visiting there. SIT is evident you didn't
make long stay in the horrid place"
Why. pray?"
Because 1t is so ruinous to the COM
plexion to stay there any length OF time.
The smoke, you know. am told that the
women and girls who live there have their
skins actually tanned, so that they can't be
distinguished from squaws."
DO they? Probably 1 would not notice
that SO much as a stranger, for have always
lived in Pittsburg."
And the queer thing about it is that the
tanning theory of that discomftted lady
ought to have been correct according to all
philosophy OF cause and effect. Nobody can
explain Just why, in that dense atmosphere
oil SCOT and smoke, the women and girls did
not look Ike squaws, but persisted rather in
blooming like flowers Hnmauar we can