Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
15 comments on this post.
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osiris:
December 26th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
My grandmother used the word “neb” as a verb. “Neb out”, she’d say sweetly. She grew up in Kentucky (probably a Pittsburgh connection somewhere) and moved to the Southwest in the ’30s, dragging many such verbal oddments with her.
This site is excellent, by the way.
terrymac:
January 11th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I was born and raised in the ‘Burgh — one of the few towns to use an “h” after “burg” – where “neb” and “redd up your room” and “gum bands” are common usage.
One theory I’ve heard is that steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, a Scot, may have inspired some of our regional slang, whether directly or via the importation of other Scots.
dan:
January 1st, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Im from Northern England, Newcastle Upon Tyne and was laughing earlier today thinking of some words in our dialect: Geordie. Just so you know, we use nebby here and its interesting to find that it seems to have lived on in another part of the world in a state in the US.
Joseph:
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
Thanks for digging this out for us. A friend and I were just discussing these Pittsburgh terms and I too was initially drawn to “nebbish” thinking there was some antiquated meaning associated with the word. Very enlightening, indeed. BTW: It’s no wonder the residents of Ohio warned you to stay on the highway. In Pennsylvania, we consider their driving habits as extremely hazardous and dimwitted. So I suppose many of them get into accidents and thus word got back to the homeland that driving though western PA might be dangerous. It’s really the hills of course. Our roads are often narrow and winding and over the years we’ve developed a certain set of assumptions that flatlanders might not understand.
Tom:
January 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Bologna is one of the most amazing places in Italy!
tawnya:
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
I am from Pittsburgh and now live in Ohio..i always use the word “nebby” and NO ONE in this state has ever heard that word! I thought I was losing my noodle! This morning I mentioned “corning” that we do on Halloween, to my man..again..another term Ohioans never heard?? Am I from Mars? I type in nebby and POOF! Its a Pittsburg word!lol OK..so we have our own lingo! But proud of it!
Jeff:
June 14th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
For additional info, here in Western PA some people will refer to the worst of the worst of nosy people as “neb-sh*ts”, singular is “neb-sh*t”. In case you can’t figure it out, you put an “i” in for the “*”.
Laura:
March 24th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
My family moved to Hartford City, Indiana. I soon heard the word “nibby” being used and had to ask for its definition. I was told that it meant “nosey”. I have lived in other communities in Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, and had never heard the word.
Jack:
July 21st, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Just had this mentioned on KDKA in pittsburgh, thats how I found it.
Bev Lewis akaBeverly Wells Author:
March 9th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I,too,grew up hearing my mother(who was from RI) use the term neb-nose–meaning a busybody. I’m trying to find out the date it was first used as I’d like to use it in an upcoming novel of mine. If anyone can help me with the actual original date it was first used I’d be most appreciative. Thanks
Karen:
February 9th, 2013 at 9:58 pm
My Philadelphia grandmother used to call people nebby noses, but my Pittsburgh grandmother didn’t. However, the Philly grandma was married to a Liverpudlian – could she have picked it up from him, I wonder?
@Bev Lewis, I’m probably too late for you on this, but here’s a website that lists early usages of it.
Theresa:
July 25th, 2013 at 1:14 pm
My father used the word Nebby to describe someone who was picky with their food. I grew up in the countryside in Co.Monaghan, Ireland.
Elizabeth:
July 29th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
I am from Central Indiana and grew up hearing my family use nibby. I just used it tonight with my kids (in TX) and found that my husband and none of my 4 kids had ever heard it.
Pokey:
June 7th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
I am in debate with my son about the origins of this word, and was raised in the Pacific NW of this country, and never heard “being a nib-nose” anywhere but here in Western PA. I used to notice it when I first moved here, and also the “you’uns” used to bug me, too.
EBS:
December 11th, 2014 at 2:27 pm
I was born in Sumter, S. C. in 1943. “Nebby nose” was commonly used in our town in that WWII era. It was not cool to be told that you were a “nebby nose”. I just remembered it for the first time in my adult life, last night. My wife grew up 50 miles west in an area rich in Swiss-German ancestry since colonial times, and she says that she never heard that term. I just called my sister who well remembers having been known as a “nubby nose”. What it meant in our culture seemed to largely apply to children who couldn’t resist looking in drawers, boxes, or closets when visiting someone else’s home (a particular form of sticking ones’ nose into another’s stuff or business).