I've listed as my home turf PA Dutch Country. I'd like to explain the where's and what's for you history/geography buffs.
It is obviously in Pennsylvania, southeastern PA to be exact. It encompasses, Berks, Lancaster, and Lebanon Counties with some overlap into adjacent Counties.
"Dutch" is a misnomer, actually to be precise it should be - PA German Country- as the Netherlandish,(Dutch), tended to settle more in NY and NJ. The primary settlement was by German, Swiss, and German speaking French peoples. A lot of them came for religious reasons; they were often persecuted for their faith in Europe and our Founder, William Penn pursued a forward thinking policy of universal inclusion. Those religious groups were mainly the Amish and Mennonites. Non-religious german speaking peoples also settled here because of the extremely rich soils and favorable climate. Those Amish and Mennonites began speaking a *******ized mixture of german dialect and english with some made up words thrown in. That is what is known as the "Pennsylvania Dutch" language, again, accurately Pennsylvania German.
And yes, I speak german, (Not PA Dutch), having grown up partly in Austria and Germany.
That gives you a little about where I live.
Peter
It is obviously in Pennsylvania, southeastern PA to be exact. It encompasses, Berks, Lancaster, and Lebanon Counties with some overlap into adjacent Counties.
"Dutch" is a misnomer, actually to be precise it should be - PA German Country- as the Netherlandish,(Dutch), tended to settle more in NY and NJ. The primary settlement was by German, Swiss, and German speaking French peoples. A lot of them came for religious reasons; they were often persecuted for their faith in Europe and our Founder, William Penn pursued a forward thinking policy of universal inclusion. Those religious groups were mainly the Amish and Mennonites. Non-religious german speaking peoples also settled here because of the extremely rich soils and favorable climate. Those Amish and Mennonites began speaking a *******ized mixture of german dialect and english with some made up words thrown in. That is what is known as the "Pennsylvania Dutch" language, again, accurately Pennsylvania German.
And yes, I speak german, (Not PA Dutch), having grown up partly in Austria and Germany.
That gives you a little about where I live.
Peter
