Comments on: Nebby

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:58:42 +0000

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.

By: Bev Lewis akaBeverly Wells Author

Bev Lewis akaBeverly Wells Author — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:50:05 +0000

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

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:22:33 +0000

Just had this mentioned on KDKA in pittsburgh, thats how I found it.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:41:58 +0000

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.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:34:22 +0000

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 “*”.

By: tawnya

tawnya — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:08:00 +0000

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!

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:26:52 +0000

Bologna is one of the most amazing places in Italy!

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:15:47 +0000

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.

By: dan

dan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:33:43 +0000

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.

By: terrymac

terrymac — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:01:40 +0000

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.

By: osiris

osiris — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:05:24 +0000

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.