Perhaps the most useful words and phrases to know in any language are those that express anger, excitement, or grief. For your convenience, here is a helpful list of Plautdietsch curse words and insults, along with pronunciation and a brief example of where a Mennonite might use such words. Thankfully for your ears, Mennonites don’t normally utter any truly bad words, but this is as close as it gets. Here are a few choice gems:

Dietschlaunt! – (DEETCH-lawnd) – “Germany” (inoffensive) You’re feeding the hogs, when your cousin Herman, who is a total schwäa, deliberately drops the bucket in such a way that is splashes up onto your slacks. While wiping the slop from your pants you might exclaim “Dietschlaunt!” though nobody really knows why.

Diewel ! – (DEE-vil) – “Devil” (mildly offensiv

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