Well, I was doing some research yet about the language of my people and such and I found out that the great Mennonite novelist Armin Wiebe has an excellent section of his website called “Gutenthal Speaks” where you can hear Armin read various Mennonite expressions, such as “holem de gruel”, “chinga freow met sukka bestreit”, and “schludenz”, as well as some traditional (if rather dark) Plautdietsch poetry such as:

Schuckel schuckel Scheia / Oostre ate wie Eia

Pinjkste ate wie wittet Broot / Stoaw’ wie nijch

Dann woa wie groot.

which translates to:

Schuckel schuckel scissor legs / At Easter we eat eggs

At Pentecost we eat white bread / Die we not

We won’t be dead.

Nah junges! You have to hear Armin read it!

What a goldmine! I spent all afternoon playing audio recordings an

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