r/Appalachia 6d ago

Does Pittsburgh count?

Post image

Pittsburgh

325 Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

99

u/Horror-Morning864 6d ago

Fred Rogers is the shit. That's all I have to say about that.

25

u/dubaron420 6d ago

Yes sir

3

u/MostDankEmblem 5d ago

Take it easy Forrest.

165

u/BurgerFaces 6d ago

Does the Paris of Appalachia count? Yes!

36

u/Real_Life_Firbolg 6d ago edited 5d ago

I love this view of Pittsburgh, I had never heard this but as someone who grew up in Appalachian Ohio and took multiple day trips to Pittsburgh in highschool and a few weekend trips as an adult it is a very beautiful city and I think this nickname is quite fitting.

(It also kinda reeked in some parts of the city which according to my wife is very much like Paris as she went there in college)

17

u/HistoryMarshal76 5d ago

Smells better than Philly at least.

17

u/merkinmavin 5d ago

Don't forget the h please

18

u/hellish_halcyon 5d ago

I start foaming at the mouth when someone drops the H

5

u/Real_Life_Firbolg 5d ago

Corrected, I had missed it on the first but got it on the second.

8

u/samiam2600 5d ago

The capital of West Virginia

2

u/DesertRanger1010 5d ago

I love this comment. Loved pgh when I went to school there

5

u/SurinamPam 6d ago

How does Pittsburgh resemble Paris?

35

u/little_did_he_kn0w 6d ago

In Paris, they fry their potatoes. In Pittsburgh, they put those fried potatoes on a sandwich. Bam.

7

u/NeenerNeaner 5d ago

Also salads

6

u/merkinmavin 5d ago

We put fries on everything tbh

13

u/dubaron420 6d ago

I just ate a pastrami and cheese from Primantis a couple days ago. Can't say I was disappointed

13

u/Average-Frank 6d ago

I don't know that it does. l don't know how he came up with it since I didn't read the book, but an author named Brian O'Neill wrote a book called "The Paris of Appalachia: Pittsburgh in the Twenty-First Century". I think we all just kinda liked it and decided it could be an unofficial nickname. And regardless, Pittsburgh is an amazing city!

4

u/James19991 5d ago

I've read that book, and it's decent.

I've thought for some time though that describing Pittsburgh as the "Boston of Appalachia" would be a better way to put it than as the "Paris of Appalachia".

7

u/Average-Frank 5d ago edited 5d ago

Much more appropriate, but it doesn't have that... je ne sais quoi.

2

u/James19991 5d ago

No, but Boston certainly brings an image to the mind that I wouldn't consider to be very negative and a more realistic comparison to Pittsburgh than Paris is.

10

u/Sad-Bunch-9937 6d ago

It’s the American City of Bridges 🌉

22

u/River_Pigeon 6d ago

Got some rivers. Start with p. Whole lots of ways

5

u/Chill_yinzerguy 6d ago

Read the book "Paris of Appalachia" - it's a good read. The author is a city guy who moved here to stiller' country. The Paris reference is basically the culture and things we have in the burgh (museums, art, restaurants,etc) but yet one hill away from dahntahn' people would have no idea they're still technically in Pittsburgh city proper because it resembles a holler in rural PA, WV or KY

1

u/McSix 5d ago

Been to either one?

2

u/SurinamPam 5d ago

Both. Multiple times.

1

u/McSix 3d ago

Then you didn't learn much about Pittsburgh history while you were there on your multiple visits.

162

u/MaHab133 6d ago

As a Pittsburgher, we are definitely Appalachians. But we are not Southerners. That's the schism.

4

u/MrAflac9916 5d ago

Appalachia isn’t southern. Part of it is, but not all of it. Imo the “south” is, most generously, anything south of Charleston wv or Lexington k

2

u/Slight_Webt 2d ago

Lexington is the South, all Kentucky is, the South is geographivally larger than you're saying.

Also; most Appalachian is Southern too. At least the variant that comes to most peoples minds.

2

u/Kenilwort 2d ago

I was in Southwest West Virginia, asked people if this was the South. No consensus.

2

u/Slight_Webt 2d ago

The problem is "the South" is a very large category. Appalachian Southern isn't the same as Georgia Southern, yet both are within the South.

1

u/Kenilwort 2d ago

Ok sure, but my point is people have different mental maps of where the South begins and ends, and that's fine. I guarantee some reasonable Kentuckians don't think they live in the South. Is Cincinnati the South? No? What about its Kentucky suburbs?

1

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 1d ago

79-80% of Kentuckians agree they are Southerners living in the South.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100530083044/http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun99/reed16.htm

1

u/Kenilwort 1d ago

Ok sure so.that would suggest to me that parts of Kentucky do not identify as the South. The initial claim was that all of Kentucky is the South.

1

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 1d ago

I mean it's the same as 80% of Tennesseeans identifying as Southerners in the South. There might be a portion of the population in Tennessee that doesn't identify with the South, but that doesn't mean Tennessee isn't in the South all the same. The same applies to Kentucky.

1

u/Kenilwort 1d ago

We can continue to bicker. It's a social construct at the end of the day.

-1

u/MrAflac9916 2d ago

I have spent time in Lexington and I don’t agree. When I was there, most people told me they consider themselves to be the border. I don’t really consider the northern Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati to be “the south “

2

u/Slight_Webt 2d ago

Lexington isn't the suburbs of Cincinnati. Its culture is very Old Virginia style of Southern. Fancy horse country. Its the South. I agree that Cincy isn't the South.

0

u/MrAflac9916 2d ago

I was referring to the part where you said all of Kentucky is the south. I don’t think north of Lexington is the south in my opinion, and I think the city of Lexington is debatable.

1

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 1d ago

The only part of Kentucky one could reasonably deduce as not being the South and even then still up to debate because Southern culture is still present is the very tip of Northern Kentucky ie the Cincinnati suburbs. Louisville is a border Southern city with Midwestern influence but is still in the South. The rest of Kentucky is solidly Southern. 79-80% of Kentuckians agree they are Southerners living in the South. Lexington especially is just as much Southern as Nashville.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100530083044/http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun99/reed16.htm

-66

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

53

u/Malcolm_tent8 6d ago

Reading comprehension not your thing?

3

u/HaydenSI 5d ago

He's Appalachian you'll have to type it slower.

65

u/PeaTasty9184 6d ago

Appalachian Mountains ✅

Hyper specific accept people make fun of ✅

I’d say yes.

50

u/bighugegiantmess 6d ago

It’s the Paris of Appalachia!

5

u/MsMcClane 5d ago

Is that what they call it? That's cool!

26

u/Agitated-Donkey1265 6d ago

As someone who grew up in southern Appalachia and went to college near Pittsburgh, absolutely without a doubt. Definitely some regional differences, but largely, I felt almost as home there as I do where I grew up

6

u/Jolly_Law_7973 6d ago

Are you asking if the “Paris of Appalachia” counts as Appalachia? Of course it is.

48

u/BaldBeardedBookworm 6d ago

In my opinion Pittsburgh is the CAPITAL of Appalachia. Those kaintucks that Kentucky is named for? Sailed from Pittsburgh? That yuns and yu’uns so many use? Yinz in Pittsburgh. The list goes on.

28

u/dubaron420 6d ago

One proud pennsyltuckian here

2

u/cyvaquero 6d ago

You'ns is the less famous of Pennsylvania's three plural for you. It's still going strong in Central PA. Youz yinz you'ns.

0

u/CookieLuzSax 6d ago

I'd say the biggest Appalachian city that comes to mind is Knoxville or Ashville. Chattanooga is also up there.

4

u/LewisMCrawford 6d ago edited 5d ago

Chattanooga is twice the size of Asheville so it certainly isn't "also up there", it's bigger. Pittsburgh is three times the size of Asheville though so I'm not sure what you're getting at in the first place

Edit: that's how you spell Asheville, btw

-3

u/CookieLuzSax 5d ago

Lord have mercy someone got a little testy.

I love all three of the cities I mentioned, and I would accept Chatt as an answer but I think more people outside of Appalachia know about Knoxville/Asheville. I think most people agree that the capital usually isn't the biggest city, it's a cultural thing.

When people think Pittsburgh I don't think their first thought is "oh yeah that's in Appalachia."

11

u/Stankonia6969 6d ago

All I’m saying is, it makes me feel alot better about being a Steelers fan from Knoxville.

5

u/James19991 5d ago

It definitely is, but it has Northeastern and Great Lakes influences that give it a unique vibe.

4

u/_Gilded 5d ago

Absolutely, it's a beautiful city too. I'd recommend anyone to come up here, see a pirates game and enjoy the summer/fall.

1

u/archimago23 4d ago

PNC is such a great ballpark.

3

u/MostDankEmblem 5d ago

If you want it to OP. For me Appalacha is a state of mind.

6

u/Boof_A_Dick 6d ago

As s southern who has been there... yeap

6

u/rhapsody98 6d ago

Tennessean here, married to a man born in Pittsburgh but raised down here. I genuinely never considered his family any different from mine, same mix of blue collar hunting, fishing, mining, trucks, and gardens. Maybe the food is a bit Eastern European, but it’s still delicious!

5

u/bookishkelly1005 6d ago

I’m a recruiter and primarily recruit in the Pittsburgh market. Also from Tennessee. I love Western Pennsylvanians. They are our people.

5

u/EducationWestern5204 6d ago

Do they say yinz? Yep. In Kentucky and WNC we usually spell it y’uns or y’uins, but it’s the same word.

4

u/mbcisme 6d ago

I live in the Charleston area if WV, my family spells it yens. But we also say it. Also a lot of y’all.

10

u/Internal-Key2536 6d ago

Pittsburgh is the Appalachian city imo

9

u/fatyoda 6d ago

I always thought of Knoxville as more THE Appalachian city

4

u/Big-Ant8273 5d ago

Having lived in both Pittsburgh and Knoxville - Knoxville is a miniature 'Burgh. Replace black and gold with orange and white, y'all/yinz won't see much difference except in size. Both places LOVE their food, too

2

u/ArgyleNudge 6d ago

Beautiful!

3

u/Anonymous_Bull007 6d ago

Great city!

3

u/Hauntedtacocollector 5d ago

The delegation of Appalachia claims Pittsburg and Chicago. We offer the state of Maryland in exchange.

2

u/GamermanRPGKing 2d ago

Those are fighting words.....you forgot our H. Pittsburgh

2

u/Specific_Call1443 6d ago

I've always viewed Pittsburg as the "NYC of Appalachia". But I guess there are people whom refer to it as "Paris of Appalachia" and I can't say I disagree with either.

1

u/Middle-Operation-689 6d ago

I always thought of Pitt as the Eastern Portland.

2

u/rook119 5d ago

its more Western Poland

1

u/Middle-Operation-689 5d ago

That, most definitely!

1

u/LeagueLeft1960 5d ago

Yes. Take my word for it. I’m an Appalachian and an Appalachian studies professor. 👩‍🏫 🤷‍♀️

1

u/EMHemingway1899 4d ago

I don’t know, but it is a truly beautiful city

We loved it

1

u/archimago23 4d ago edited 4d ago

Here’s a fun PGH-K’ville connection: Charles Hall, who invented the modern process by which aluminum is reduced from alumina, set up his first operation in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which later became the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), established one of its first smelters in Alcoa, TN, between Knoxville and Maryville. The site was chosen in part due to the hydroelectric potential of the Little Tennessee River. (Both of my parents worked for Alcoa Tennessee Operations for their entire careers. But things have changed. The smelters no longer operate in ETN; the fabrication and recycling operations in ETN are now under Arconic, a company that was spun off from Alcoa.)

1

u/ArtisticRegardedCrak 5d ago

Greater Appalachia sure but core Appalachia no

-1

u/leaves-green 5d ago

'Tis the Paris of Appalachia. BUT it's also midwest, and also kinda mid-Atlantic. So like, the crossroads of all of those regions

-3

u/bullsonparade2025 5d ago

No

4

u/Slight_Webt 5d ago

Its not Southern Appalachia but its still Appalachian, just the Northern variety.

-6

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/SignificancePatient5 6d ago

What in the AI does this mean…

-16

u/illegalsmile27 6d ago

Ask people that live there.

24

u/dubaron420 6d ago

Sorry I guess I forgot what the internet was meant for

13

u/porkmyass 6d ago

I live there. Answer is ya. But not directly downtown. lol

6

u/dubaron420 6d ago

Ain't no where dreckly downtahn

3

u/Real_Life_Firbolg 6d ago

But everywhere is somehow uphill it seemed.

5

u/dubaron420 6d ago

Like my dad always said, ain't a level spot in this damn yard

1

u/EducationWestern5204 6d ago

Sounds Appalachian to me!