Ferhoodled, Ferschmutzed, and Ferlorn

Some of the older folks around the Oley Valley and around Reading spoke a formal type of Pennsylvania Deitsch, but most of the kids of my generation were drifting toward English, with a little spin.  I prefer to use the term "Dutchified English" to refer to the dialect I acquired as a child.  I know we were German, not Dutch, but we referred to ourselves (or "ahvah selfes") as Dutchified.  And our English was definitely unique.

Our region was a thing-in-itself (or a "ding an sich").  We were the product of a convergence of many cultures and many dialects, and we became what we were, a compromise, neither English nor German but something in between.  Something new.  Our speech was affected by German pronunciation ("ahvah" instead of "our") and word order ("A piece of cake you should cut yourself before you go") and cadence (a rising lilt at the end of a question and a falling lilt at the end of the response).  We also used words that someone must have invented right there in our little corner of the world, our Dutchified thing-in-itself.  When I was in a hurry too much, and knocked things over, my mother would say I was too "sheustlich."  If I squirmed around in my seat, she'd call me "reutchy."  When something was dirty, we'd call it "schmutzed up" or "ferschmutzed" or "gunked up."  The uneaten food left at the end of a meal was called "warmed-ups," and I had a friend who would say he had to "hot it up" when he was reheating that leftover food the following evening.

Each of us knew what the others meant when they used those words, phrases, and pronunciations.  But when I spoke like that in college, the other students laughed at me.  Some might good-heartedly call me a "dumb Dutchman."  So I quit using those words.  But then the word order or the cadence of my speech might give me away, and they'd laugh again.  So I quit the cadence and the word order.

I became homogenized.  I stopped saying "Get ought!" or "Come on!" when someone said something that surprised me.  I stopped ending a sentence with "yet" or "once't" or "already," such as "I got to get home yet," or "Come visit once't," or "Quit that already."  I stopped emphasizing my statements by saying "Doan'cha know?"  I stopped using the word "grex" to refer to complaining.  I quit using the words "a little" everytime I meant a small amount, such as "Slow down a little," or "Come visit for a little."

The use of language in my childhood was flexible, informal, creative, and fun, lots of fun.  I miss it.  To read an excerpt from my book illustrating the Dutch accent of my youth,  click here.

©2005   (email)
Home Again