How to pronounce places in PA Dutch country. (York, Ephrata: real estate, house)

[Wolfman89]

Lebnone

Langkisster

Redding

Hahrisburg

Gettisburg

Oh lee

Pottstohn

Yawrk

any county is pronounced cawny

the schuylkill is the skoo cool

Berks is Burrks

and remember. the Amish are the Ahhmish

[Torresdale]

Originally Posted by Wolfman89

Lebnone

I always pronounced that leb-a-nin (or was it lebnin?).

[BevoInPA]

This cracks me up. I am not sure how to even spell the way certain words are pronounced here but home is pronounced something like hume. There is an interesting page on Wikipedia on the Central PA accent. It attributes it to the Scot-Irish and German influence. There is one contribution on the common absence of the verb "to be" in sentences. The car needs washed.

I grew up here and moved away when I was 18 and moved back at age 33. Along the way I would get an occasional question on my origins, word use, etc. I think one of the funniest is "the room needs red up". Someone in Florida asked me what this means. I thought about it, never having giving it much thought, and decided it means "to ready room". I wonder if that is the origins.

I also notice around here people say it is a mute point...as it the point is incapable of speaking instead if a moot point. And finally, irregardless. This makes me cringe. That is a double negative so you are basically saying that you will only do something if something else occurs but that is not the messenger's intent.

This is sort of off point but I read that Pennslvania Dutch is considered to be one of the languages in the world that is nearing extinction. Correct me if I am wrong but I think this is the household language in Amish households and the Amish population if booming. The average Amish family has 8 children and, on average, only one child does not get baptized at 18 after Rumspringa.

I love the culture here and I am afraid for the rapidly growing population because I hate to see the day I can't buy Leb'nin Ba'low'na or yellow chowchow (why is it yellow by the way). God bless Glen Millers in Lemoyne because nobody in my family knows how to cook any of this anymore.

[BackToTheCityMouse]

The lack of 'to be' dialect isn't used only here in Dutchy PA. I've read that on Ebay auctions and chat boards from all over the lower Midwest, parts of the South, and parts of the West. I've found that when real estate listings mention something that 'needs done' to the property, what also will need done is professional removal of lots of wallpaper until it's all.

[BevoInPA]

The Central PA Wikipedia says that people in Central PA say "yins". I don't think I had ever heard the word until I moved to Penn State and "mixed" with the western PA folks.

[chazztrons]

Originally Posted by BevoInPA

The Central PA Wikipedia says that people in Central PA say "yins". I don't think I had ever heard the word until I moved to Penn State and "mixed" with the western PA folks.

LOL yeah "yins" and "bins"

It gets me everytime.
My aunt in Pennsylvania when she emails me. She types "bin" for been.
The thing is that is how she talks too.
I love it!!

[Wolfman89]

Actually the dialect isn't dying at all.

The Reding Eagle says that its making a huge comeback.

The language and dialect were supressed during the world wars(when an american of german ancestory could be lynched and the killers aquited because it was an act of "patriotism"..I'm still waiting for our apology from the government).

anywho. Most PA Dutch in that generation tried to supress it and Americanize.

Today however alot of PA Dutch teens and young adults are getting back into the culture and language.

Kutztown university has an entire program on PA Dutch language and history. They have managed to make a way of spelling the words and incorporating the phrases into sentences so now it is less of dialect and more of a local tongue. the Amish population is expected to double in the decade.

Yinz and Yunz is more western and northern PA. My grandma was from Sunbury and always said Yunz..I never knew why until I learned about the dialect.

[toobusytoday]

The library where I work had a hugely popular class in Pennsylvania Dutch (called Pennsylvania German) in the fall and we'll probably offer it again. For most, I think it was something that they heard growing up but were never taught it. I have relatives (now in their late 70's) that grew up with their parents speaking it, but they were actively discouraged from learning it and teachers did not permit it in school.

For non-amish though, it's more of a novelty. When we first moved to Lehigh county I used to hear older people speaking it in the grocery stores and around town but I hardly ever hear it anymore. I hear you'ins around here - is that like yunz??

[Wolfman89]

basically the same. yes.

I think that as the population of out of area people(New Yorkers, New Jerseyans, Mexicans) continues to grow. People will get more defensive of the existing culture and old ways.

I know a few people between the ages of 16 and 20 who are getting very proud of the PA Dutch backrounds because it is under threat from out of towners and its like watching a culture being overtaken from an outside force.

Patriotism is patriotism in any form. Most Americans could care less that they're American unless America and American culture is percievedly threatened.

Same goes for PA Dutch. Most people didn't care that they were PA Dutch until it was percievedly threatened.

In the 90s no one knew or cared about their heritage around here. Now I see college kids hanging out at predominantly Amish farmers markets and going to county fairs and looking at hex signs.

[BevoInPA]

What library offers the PA Dutch class? I would LOVE to go to that. I took a class at Penn State back in 1994 that was on Pennsylvania German History. The professor was great, passionate. We went on a field trip to the Ephrata Cloisters and a real working Amish farm that still had the pioneer house intact on the property. It was amazing, like the family built the "big" house and left everything behind in the pioneer house 20 feet away.