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My "tourist shot" of the 'burgh. I've put this image in a separate viewing pane, as well, with some descriptions and a little commentary.

3 Rivers Special

Last Light Taken near Station Square on New Year's Eve, 2014,

Sisters of the Allegheny: The Fort Duquense Bridge, followed by the 6th Street/Alberto Clemente Br., the 7th Street/Andy Warhol Br.,

the 9th Street/Rachel Carson Br., and the 16th Street Br.

Crossing the Clemente (6th Street Bridge)

9th Street Bridge: Detail

9th Street Bridge: Portrait

Over the Mon: Bridge and Trestle

From the foreground: The Fort Pitt Bridge, the Smithfield Street Bridge, the "Panhandle" Trestle, and the Liberty Bridge.

Also in view, just above the Fort Pitt span, is a pier for a trestle long since gone, that allowed rail traffic to land downtown

near Stanwix Street.

Fort Pitt Bridge: Detail

First Span on the Ohio River: the West End Bridge at Twilight

Pittsburgh Page Two

PHOTOGRAPHS MAIN

I lived in Pittsburgh for a relatively short time - about four 'n' a half years - but liked the town quite a lot, and have visited several times since moving away. Each time I've returned, I've spent at least part of the trip going about with the camera, just to record images of the city I once called home.

A note on the word "Mon:" no, this isn't a Pittsburghese variant on "man," but a foreshortened version of the river name Monongahela. Unlike the name of its sister river, the Allegheny, Monongahela is a bit of a mouthful, so most 'burghers simply refer to it as "the Mon."

"N'at"

This is a contraction of "and that," a sentence filler that is similar in usage to the way people round out statements with "...y'know," or Liverpudlians do with "...then."

It is, as far as I know, peculiar to southwest Pennsylvania, which has been recognized as having its own distinct dialect/accent. This is sometimes called Pittsburghese.

An example might run thus:

"I was walkin' down Carson Street n'at, an' I was gonna' stop in the Beehive for a coffee n'at, an' that's when I saw yinz comin' up the other way."

My own take on Pittsburghese is that it has its origins from the early settlers commingling with later immigrants, and none of them necessarily speaking English as we'd recognize it now. Imagine Scots, Irish, Italians, Polish, Hungarians and Czechs all coming and going from steel mills and sorta getting by in something that resembles English, but maybe not quite. They're trading vowels for consonants and flattening out some sounds here and there. Eventually, their grandkids mash it all up and we get a pronunciation that yinz just won't find anywhere else. Which may be good or bad depending on your point of view. N'at.