A Pennsylvania referee was on the call for one of the best high school football games of the year over the weekend and his Yinzer accent could not be any stronger. Getting him to properly annunciate the letter “w” is simply not going to happen. It’s amazing.
For those who are not familiar, a ‘Yinzer’ is a term used to identify the people of the Pittsburgh reason. Someone from Los Angeles is called an “Angeleno.” Someone from Pittsburgh is called a “Yinzer.”
Yinzers havee their own unique Pittsburghese accent. Certain words sounds differently in that part of the country and they talk very fast.
Some simple examples include:
- Iron
- Normal: “eye-urn”
- Yinzer: “arn”
- Steel
- Normal: “Stee-eel”
- Yinzer: “Still”
- Washed
- Normal: “wa-asht”
- Yinzer: “warshed”
There is also local slang, like “n’at” which means “and that,” or “slippy” instead of “slippery.” And then there is the whole ‘w’ thing. The “w” becomes an “ah.”
For example, “downtown” becomes “dahtahn.” In the case of the referee, “first down” became “first dahn.”
Upper St. Clair High School hosted Moon Area on Friday night. The ultimate Yinzer referee was on the call. He and his accent are awesome.
Every time the official said “penalty,” it was more like “penady.” Every time he said “down,” it was “dahn.”
Here is how the Yinzer ref sounded throughout the night:
The Panthers played to a 43-42 overtime win over the Tigers in one of the best games of the season. To make the entire outing even better, they had the best high school football referee on the call.
It was the perfect storm for the ultimate viral moment and it took off like a rocket. The ultimate Yinzer ref had more than 2.6 million views in less than 48 hours. To make it even better, the referee himself almost certainly had no idea how viral he was about to go. He’s been doing this for decades. It’s just Friday.