It's Probably a Folk Thing

Segment 1: The Hook
You’re sitting at a stoplight in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. The light turns green, and instead of everyone rushing forward, there’s a little pause. The car across from you turns left in front of you, and you wait – just for a moment – so they can make it through. No horns. No stress. Just a small act of courtesy on the road.
In Pittsburgh, they call it the Pittsburgh Left.
It’s probably a folk thing.
🎶 [Intro Music] 🎶
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Segment 2: What It Is
Welcome to It’s Probably a Folk Thing – the podcast about everyday experiences that turn out to be older, weirder, and far more meaningful than we realized.
The Pittsburgh Left is more than just a traffic quirk; it’s a tradition of kindness. In a city famous for steep hills, narrow streets, and more bridges than you can count, drivers found a simple way to help each other out: let the person turning left go first. It’s not written in the rulebook, but it’s written in the rhythm of the city.
It’s little wonder that the city that gave rise to Mr. Rogers would have a folk tradition based on niceness. Mr. Rogers once said: “There are three ways to ultimate success: the first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” The Pittsburgh Left may not be the safest maneuver on paper, but in spirit, it’s exactly in the spirit of Pittsburgh’s most famous neighbor: a small, daily kindness.
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Segment 3: Folklore on the Road
Folklorists call this kind of cultural action a folkway, or a method of doing things. So, of course, Pittsburgh isn’t the only place with them.
• In New England, there’s something called the Boston Courtesy Wave. When someone lets you merge in heavy traffic, you give a little wave, and not doing it is almost an insult.
• In rural parts of the South and Midwest, you’ll see the two-finger steering wheel wave, where passing drivers acknowledge each other as a matter of respect.
• In parts of the Rockies, flashing headlights at oncoming cars to warn of danger ahead (or an upcoming speed trap) is considered a small way to help your neighbor avoid trouble.
These practices might look like odd little habits, but together they form a kind of folklore – everyday traditions that create community in places where strangers meet. Roads are stressful. Driving is anonymous. And yet, people find ways to signal, “I see you. I’ll help you. We’re in this together.”
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Segment 4: Personal Anecdote
I had my own brush with the Pittsburgh Left once. I was in a suburb of the city, waiting at a light to turn left. Across from me was a large truck. The light turned green, and I sat there – because everywhere I’d ever driven, the car going straight has the right-of-way. But the truck driver didn’t move.
Instead, he leaned forward, and with both hands, he started waving me on. Repeatedly. Big, sweeping waves, like he couldn’t believe I was just sitting there. I can still imagine him, framed through his trucks enormous windshield. His face said, “What’s wrong with you? Go!” I was so confused I just froze. Later, I had to ask a local what had happened, and that’s when they laughed and explained the Pittsburgh Left to me. For them, it was obvious. For me, it was bewildering.
That’s one of the things that makes it folklore: it only works if you already know the script.
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Segment 5: Folklore vs. Rules
But here’s the fascinating part: the Pittsburgh Left refuses to die. By the letter of the law, it shouldn’t even exist. The car going straight has the right-of-way, and the engineers have worked hard to design intersections that discourage the practice – more turn lanes, longer yellows, even special arrows just for left turns.
And yet…people still do it. Because folklore has a stubborn way of winning.
Think about it: the whole point of traffic law is to make things orderly. But the Pittsburgh Left grew out of a different kind of order – an order based on courtesy, community, and trust. And even with all the signs, signals, and rules telling them otherwise, Pittsburghers still let that one car turn left. Why? Because it feels right. It feels like the neighborly thing to do.
And here’s the key: the very fact that it’s not in the rulebook is what makes it folklore. Folklore is the opposite of official. It’s what people do without the interference of official authority.
The Pittsburgh Left isn’t written into the law. It’s written into the culture.
And that brings us to one of the secrets of folklore: It’s powerful. Official rules might say one thing, but lived tradition can rewrite them. And sometimes, the tradition works better for the people who actually live there. In Pittsburgh, the law says you wait...but the culture says you wave someone through. And the culture – the folklore – often wins over the rules.
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Segment 6: Wrap-Up
So the next time you’re in Pittsburgh, and someone turns left in front of you at a green light, don’t honk. Think of it as a neighborly handshake, a little echo of Mr. Rogers himself.
It’s definitely a folk thing.
Until next time.