Meaning
In Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania speech, nebby means nosy, prying, or meddlesomely inquisitive—especially about other people's business.
How it is used
Nebby is useful when curiosity crosses into unwanted involvement. Merriam-Webster glosses the dialectal adjective as rudely inquisitive or meddlesome, while PBS identifies 'nebby' meaning 'nosy' among the Pittsburgh-region lexical items associated with Scots or Ulster Scots usage. Carnegie Mellon also names nebby among the city's iconic words in Barbara Johnstone's Pittsburghese research.
Examples
- “Don't get nebby about what they paid for the house.”
- “My nebby neighbor always wants to know who's visiting.”
- “I wasn't trying to be nebby; I was just checking whether you needed help.”
Pronunciation
/ˈnɛbi/ · NEB-ee
Tone and register
Usually mildly disapproving. It can be teasing among people who know each other, but it can also directly criticize someone for intruding into private matters.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can understand nebby as more pointed than simply curious. The word comments on social boundaries: the problem is not asking a question by itself, but being perceived as overly inquisitive or meddling.
Cultural context
Nebby is one of the vocabulary items that helps make Pittsburghese publicly recognizable, but its history is broader than a single city's invention. Maperla keeps the local salience and the older dialect background separate.
Origin
PBS's Pittsburghese material groups nebby with regional words traceable to Scots or Ulster Scots usage. Merriam-Webster gives the form as neb + -y and records related British dialect senses, so the safest claim is historical continuity and regional retention rather than a Pittsburgh coinage.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.