One Laugh at Least and the Community Film Project present their first short film together, all about the unofficial language of Northeastern Pennsylvania!
When I moved from nicholson to phoenix i was on the phone with my roommate and said "I'm at the store grabbin a couple-two-tree things need anythin" and someone two alleys over yelled "someones from NEPA, Heyna or no?"
Trucksville Pa, up in the mountains out side of Wilkes Barre, PA. Been living in the South now 44 yrs still talk that way. Both Grand parents Polish catholic Anthracite coal miners 3 generations.
It's different up-and-down the line. Down-the-line in wilkesbury it's a lot of Polish. Lezern county is the only county in the United States that is majority of folks being Polish decent
Great job on this film! Heynabonics has been a huge success story for Community Film Project (CFP). For those of you who don't know, Heynabonics was made as part of CFP SHORTS, a short film series that plays each summer at Endless Mountains Theatre (EMT) in Scranton (near K-Mart).
Maybe it's because I'm sleep deprived, but the idea of anything being located near a K-Mart, even in 2007, struck me as being almost as hilarious as the video, lol.
I grew up in the area 50+ years ago. It is only recently that I learned that pank as in "pank the snow together to make a snow ball" is not used by everyone else in the world.
I grew up in the Heights of W-B, in the 60's.. Many of the older people spoke this way. This is a classic video. I get back to "da Valley" very infrequently now, but I haven't heard any Heynabonics in a while. It might be fading out, or perhaps I'm not listening well. My wife makes fun of me - I still say "myan" instead of mine! LOL. Good ole Wyoming Valley / NE PA.
Old people from the 60's? In '78 my family moved to Mocanacqua when I was a young kid. I saw someone "downtown" who asked, "Long time no see, henna"? I had no clue what language she was speaking, but was pretty sure it wasn't English. lol
Love this! I've heard many people especially from previous generations use this word - Heyna and it will always be a part of the history of our area. It's all about verbal economy. Yous guys are great! Thank you, it was really funny!!!
It took eleven years for me to find this. Creative and fun. I grew up on the south western boarder of the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. We had "youse" and "geet". We also had "sayna" instead of "heyna".
I'm from Old Forge...and this was FANtastic. I plan on using this to educate my friends from "up da line" AND "down da line." I do have to disagree with heyna not being an answer. You can answer the question Heyna? with a confirmation "heyna?" Both have question marks, but the second it just to agree with the original question. :)
Youse are da best!! Makes me smile very much and long for home.. " 'Tree' could be a ting dat grows in da woods, OR da number of wisemen dat went ta see da Baby Jesus." CLASSIC!
hahaha I'm from Dunmore & this is dead on! My entire family & friends talk like this..for someone to say they never heard anyone talk like this...they need to get out more!!! I love the party about T"H"roop..great video Heyna or no? bahahaha!
I have family Naticoke, Old Forge, and I could never understand "Heyna" (henna). This cleared things up completely! LOL! What a great inside joke! Thanks
I moved to Pittston TWP from Plattsburgh, NY a few years ago. I've lived in many states in my lifetime and have experienced many cultures and accents, but nothing makes me scratch my head more than when a NEPA native speaks to me. They're hard to understand at times.
You must be native to the area then, lol kidding. In all seriousness though, It is difficult to understand them sometimes, especially when slangs are used.
LOL I live in the Lehigh Valley and I've never heard heyna before! People here usually just say "aint it?" or "huh?"at the end of their sentences. Heyna's a good one :)
One conspicuously absent word here is onaconna. This roughly translates to "because of" as in: "I hadda go ta da Coney Island to get a hoddog onaconna the ones I got at the Ackamee were worse dan da ones I got up dee Eynon"! Note well the use of "dee" in front of Eynon, possibly the only allowed exception to the mandatory use of "da". Great video, hayna?!!
I am from the hill section and the die in-the-wool screen tonian and I'd like to offer.... "Me and jobesy went dahn 2da paahhhrk. He sez" oh noon turdy, it's lunch heyna? Go arder tree hahddahgs 1 wit mustard, 1 wit not, u can have dis1, dudder1, or dahbodavum"
The best dialoge comes from us coal regioners. We dont say heyna, we say "haint". Say what you will about the coal region, but Im proud to call it home :)
lmao., I grew up in the mid-valley and i lost my nepa accent, but this is DEAD ON!!! hilarious. i tink tree tings that are vital to a good meal ketchup, salt and pepper.
Laughed my 'duppa' off and shared with all my friends down south-some want to learn other local pronunciations- like That's gonna hide a Southern accent! LOL! Has anyone else heard of this Very limited regional quirk of calling peppers 'mangos'? Where the heck did That come from?? Last, but not least, don't forget 'up the line' or 'down the line' (Laurel)! Been out & about in the world, but still, seriously, 'there's no place like home'!
This is Daniel, Evan's friend from (now FORMERLY) O'Reilly. (Chris & Shivaun know who I am.) I absolutely loved this. Now I'm showing it to everyone I talk to online, so they can get a feeling of what it's like to be here XP
OMG! I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this for the first time. This is dead on. Don't forget about when giving directions on the west side, everything is on "the ave" ie: you go to the ave and make a right. lol.
Heynabonics had a one week theatrical run; it played 30 times prior to Evan Almighty during June 2007 at EMT. CFP is an organization that was founded in NEPA in 2004 to facilitate the production and promotion of regional motion picture projects.
Oh sweet Jesus, I LOVED that parody. They're going up the Eynon Ta get a cup a coffee And maybe eat a sangwich The Heyna Family! Sore troat! Close da light!
this was absolutely brilliant. i loved every bit of it. hats off to whoever masterminded this piece of comedic art. of course, only nepa'ers like me will get it but thats besides the point. great job.
JohnCandyesque, heartwarming, and PS, Jerry and Son (West Nanticoke), and the Park Market (Nanticoke-Proper) make the region's best "Kielbossi". It is now time to "down-Da-Boilo" then act like a tourist in Polish Markets while purchasing 50 'rings of smoked' (kielbasa), with my cousin, just to hear the locals in each-and-every butcher shop stop conversing in English, then switch to (either) Polish or Slovak. We're 'gossip-mining', you-see, did I mention that we are fluent in both languages?? It's precious to see the looks on everyone's face as we translate some of that gossip into (spoken) English, bid them farewell, then inform them that we're heading over to "Stookies" for da barbecue sammies. Eh, and maybe da Tilbury for da 'swingset show'. Pray I don't get "da ooze" again!!
Sounds like you knew my grandparents! They were from Wilkes Barre. I was born in Nanticoke and have been trying to explain to my sons the beauty of "heyna". They just kind of stare at me. That's what makes it so funny!
Omg! I was born in scanton, and this way of speaking is rigjt on da money. Even if u have been gons a long time . 2 min of sittin around talkin, and it all coes back,and yer tlkin like a pro great vid! Tanks fer puttim it out dere? Does anyone know where I can find the (Were goin up da eynon, ta get cup coffee an maybe eat a samwitch,the Heyny faily. IT WAS SUNG TO THE ADAMS FA,ULY SONG
so true.. moved from the coal region 30 years ago and learned real fast to drop the YUSE lol. I remember my little league baseball coach saying Trow it to Turd base.. and the dat dare for that there. when I was in basic training in TX I had several people there ask me if I was from the Coal Region of PA.. they knew right away and I actually do not,or did not, have a very thick coal region accent. lived in Mt Carmel but grew up in Eylsburg but went to school in Coal twp and both parents born and raised in Atlas and Shamokin respectively so I guess I picked it up anyway. watching this brings back great memories.
Born in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I talked like this for a long time. when I arrived in the south, no one could understand a thing I said. I caught myself saying another NEPA thing today: "I need you to run in your brother's hoodie." Heh. my daughter knew what I meant ;)
Great video guys :) Made me laugh even though I rarely hear anyone speak fluent Heynabonics these days. Though, being from the area, you can always 100% understand it :)
I had family in Plymouth & Kingston & Larksville & shavertown, I heard plenty of that kind of talk growing up, especially around my Polish grandparents. I don't get around that part of the state much anymore & haven't in a long time, I wonder do they still talk like that there or is that something that died off
Do you want to go to Bimm-ing-ton? Heyna, or no? Having grown up in NEPA, ALL my relatives pronounced Binghamton, N.Y. that way. I enjoyed the video, this IS who we are. Sometimes you just have to step back and have a laugh.
No, we say, "I'm goin' to th' Ack-a-me". But we say, "Be careful, don' fall on the payment out fronta th' Ack-a-me", and "Get me some fillum, so's I kin take pitchers otha Iggles"
I am from dupont pa which perhaps has the thickest(or tickest) dialect of this language. We say henna instead of heyna, but everything else is dead on.
I'm Scottish of Shetland/Orkney and Irish descent and so many of these words are part of our tongue over here too. Is Scots/Irish emigration an influence, perhaps?