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German has never had the effect on English that Pennsylvania Dutch has had, notwithstanding the fact that Pa.Dutch is a German dialect. Baltimore, from the 1870's to the WWI era, was a very German city, due to the fact that the Hamburg-Amerika ships, which carried most of the German immigrants, stopped in Baltimore, not NY. There were public schools that taught in German up to WWI. Yet, in spite of all this, there is no Germanic influence in the local English.
PA Dutch, on the other hand, had a considerable influence on the English used in Lancaster and Berks counties of PA, which is the big Dutch area. It's in the odd and often colorful expressions and contorted syntax used, also in the spoken language. There is a peculiar intonation to a Dutch accent which is different from standard English. (This is probably dying out. When I was a boy, 50 years ago, it was almost universal in the Dutch areas; nowadays, you don't hear it much.)
As to the expression in question, I have heard such a construction used by Dutchmen now and then, not often, but with the word wants, which a Dutchman is more likely to use than needs. It's not an expression generally used in the Dutch-English dialect.
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veteran
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Onct
Rapunzel reports a Dutch usage which is very common. We use it often in my family. We might say to a child, "Come here onct and let me wipe your face." And, as she notes, it has no precise meaning, but seems to be a sort of intensive or hortatory expression. Although a very different construction, it's similar to the Southern usage y'heah, as in, "Y'all come back real soon now, y'heah!"
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old hand
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old hand
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I don't see how this sentence could have originated from German - I suppose someone who was too lazy to mow the lawn could also have dispensed with to be .
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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After an extended visit with friends in Lancaster and Lititz Pennsylvania the family picked up many Pennsylvania Dutch expression which we used en famille :
Examples : Put the shut on the light (Turn out the lights)
Too soon old and too late smart. Self explanatory. And quite useful!
I had the pleasure of meeting several Amish and Mennonite families who treated me most cordially and introduced me to Shoo Fly Pie and other delights!
Oh, if you're ever in Lancaster do not miss the Farmer's Market ... The Amish fruits and vegetables on offer are simply out of this world delicious. All farming done without pesticide, everything natural. Peaches the size of grapefuits an bite into one and the juice runs down your chin.
Excuse me, I wax poetic ... but boy is their produce GOOD !!
wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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New Zealand has it's linguistic oddities, mostly born out of ignorance. There is an area in central Southland where until comparatively recently you could hear the Southland drawl (which is still common) mixed with unusual expressions. It was in this area (the Hokonui Hills) that moonshine was made at a time when prohibition reigned, from about 1920 to about 1950. Unfortunately I can't really remember any of the language quirks with one exception which would, of course, impress the bejaysus out of a city boy.
A discussion in the late 1960s about the use of fertilisers came around to DDT and the overuse of superphosphate fertilisers and organic farming, a new expression at the time. One woman, a friend of my aunt who came from an area north of Spring Hills in the southern Hokonuis was talking about growing crops "orgasmically". It might have just been her, but no one else either smiled nor corrected her.
Incidentally, my wife comes from the Spring Hills area. But she has neither the drawl nor the ignorance!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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old hand
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old hand
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>"The lawn needs mowed."
I dunno. It kinda reminds me of the Mad Hatter's "Your hair wants cutting."
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veteran
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In reply to:
put the shut on the light
The people you were visiting must have been recent immigrants; this is not the usual expression. My cousins in Lititz, Lancaster and Reading say, "Outen the light." (We say it in my house; even my wife, a native of Baltimore, says it.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Y'all come back real soon now, y'heah!"
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Just for a switch, a simple math problem If a one acre lawn is mowed with a ten inch swath, what is the minimum distance the mower must walk? You'll be surprised!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oh, Bill ... I hated those problems in school ...had a major flashback to Sister shaking her head in disappointment.
{Shudder}
Scythed a half of a half acre (quarter acre? D'uh) once when *much* younger. Don't know how many steps ... but it took a good two hours if memory serves.
wow
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