What In The Sam Hill Tarnation?!

I’m a born and bred Western Pennsylvanian, but when someone asks where I live, I simply say, “PA.”  Some might say I am from “Pennsyltucky.”  No offense taken.  I alternate from saying “Yinz” and “Yuns”.  If I don’t like someone or if I’m mad at a person, I will refer to them as a “Jagoff.”

We swim in the “crick” and “red” up the table and  “warsh” our clothes.  I just bought a bunch of “gum bands” for the office. Best lunch meat ever?  Do yuns even have to ask?! Of course it’s Isaly’s chipped ham!

I’ve been getting frustrated a lot lately over people’s posts on social media about politics.  I really try not to discuss politics or thrust my views on anyone.  But so many people have really “chapped my hiney” in the past several months.  I am also trying to curb my swearing because I have a very foul mouth and that’s not a good thing to have.  But some of these jagoffs have just been relentless and will not shut up – and I’m talking both political parties here.  And then they posted, “And if you don’t like what I’m saying, feel free to unfriend me!” And I thought about it for a couple of days and looked at their posts again and Geez Louise, I didn’t want to say the “F” word because I am trying to be a better person but my buttons were being pushed.  I was struggling not to swear and I was getting agitated and out of nowhere I blurted out, “What in the Sam Hill Tarnation is going on!”

Now, I was having the above conversation with myself, that’s another thing that I do, I talk out loud to myself.  And I realized that I had not heard the Sam Hill Tarnation expression for probably 50 years, when I was a child.  And I had a good chuckle and then I proceeded to unfriend a bunch of people, who, upon reflection, really weren’t my friends.

I have to admit, though, that I do miss saying the “F” word.  And then I embraced my Irish roots (I am also Scottish from my Mom’s side of the family) and started saying, “Feck.”  Is it basically the same word as the “F” word? Yes, yes, it is.  But it’s cuter when you type it out and people look at you funny when you say it in public. And if my Mom were still alive and I said, “What the feck is going on?”, she probably wouldn’t threaten to warsh my mouth out with soap.  She threatened to do that a lot, even when I was 60 years old, just a few months before she died.

You’re probably wondering, “What in the Sam Hill Tarnation” is Pam rambling on about?” Well, feck, it yinz guys, if you have to ask, I’m not telling…