Pittsburgh Potties and Being Nebby

Okay, so, yes, this is not a usual title for a blog written by Melissa Sturm (sorry – Camus…still getting use to that). I’m a bit 19^th century prudish about my language. But there is simply no other way to describe what I am about to write about: a Pittsburgh Potty.

Truth be told, I haven’t actually seen one in real life yet – only pictures. I hear that 75% of homes built in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries here in Pittsburgh have one. (They probably all did, but the rest have been torn out during updates.) And exactly what is a Pittsburgh Potty? Well, think of a potty just sitting in your basement. Either you will be a bit disturbed by that image or you’ll laugh.

Literally, a Pittsburgh Potty is a toilet that is simply sitting in your basement. It probably has a sink with it as well, but no walls. So, not technically a bathroom. (Unless you want to call your entire basement a bathroom.) It’s perfectly operational, even if it might be quite old. I guess I just wouldn’t offer its use to my guests.

The history is quite simple: during the days when Pittsburgh was a hazy, smoky, dirty city and most of the men worked in steel factories or coal mines, they needed a place to clean up before they actually came into the house after a hard day at work. So, sinks and potties were put in the basement so they could enter through there, clean up and join their family for dinner. That allowed just a little bit less dust and grime to gather in the house itself.

But for those of us who are not from Pittsburgh, the concept is a little bizarre. I had one woman from Texas tell me she didn’t want one in her house…at least until she had three going on four children and the only bathroom was on the second floor. She had one put in. It’s probably great for the kids…without walls and a door, that’s one less thing to open and close when you’ve waited too long to leave your play and have to go!

And, with no or narrow windows in your basement, you don’t have to worry about your neighbors being “nebby”. That is another turn of “Pittsburghese”. It literally means “nosey neighbor”. You know, James Stewart in Rear Window or Elsa Lancaster in Disney’s That Darn Cat! People who spend all their time watching the goings-on up and down their street (which is Pittsburgh means dozens of houses and hundreds of occupants to snoop on). And, actually, it’s one Pittsburgh word I think I could take into my vocabulary. I think it touches my Southern roots of shortening phrases so you can stretch out the vowels longer. Like “y’all”.

Nebby. Yeah, you can draw on that pretty well.