"How to Speak Dutch-ified English" : A book review

Okay, now I know what you are all thinking, "Dutch-ified English?" What is THAT? LOL! Well, for those of you who have not had the very unique experience of being born and raised in the Berks County, Pennsylvania area, the term "dutch-ified" is commonly used here to describe how the PA Dutch attempt to pronouce the English language. For example, the word sandwich is pronounced "sand-vitch," the word now is pronounced "naw," etc.

No, this is not a joke. I am completely serious; however, the following books are just a "tongue-in-cheek" version of how the PA Dutch really speak.

The books, "How to Speak Dutch-ified English: Wolume Vun (1)" and "Wolume Twoah (2)" by Gary Gates, are just plain hilarious! Although we in PA Dutch country know the actual meanings of the English words, the author's jokes are in the descriptions (which, I assure you, ARE merely just meant to be funny)! To give you some idea of what I am talking about, here are a few exerpts from the book:

Dissy: Off balance ("When I climb too high I get dissy.")
Dotch: The make of a car (instead of Dodge)
Prod: To take pleasure in something ("Most people are prod to be Amercians.")
Tooah: means also ("Jenny's coming, tooah.")

In addition to this, the author also adds words which are only used locally by the PA Dutch such as "rutch" which means to squirm i.e. "Ted! stop rutching in the pew and listen to the sermon." In my post, "A little PA Dutch for You," I have listed some more words used specifically by the PA Dutch.

If you want a good laugh, I definately recommend these two books. Not only are they a tiny peek into another culture, but they are by far among the most charming books I have ever read!