Make that NW PA…
I grew up in southern Ohio, my mother in western Pennsylvania. We both say “the lawn needs mowed” and the like. It’s always sounded perfectly fine to me, but when I went to college I discovered that some people consider it vulgar. These people, however, also drink a mysterious substance called soda, so I just ignore them. I keep drinking my pop, and after I’m done, the glass needs washed.
A handy guide.
Re: Bots Dots. I had heard that they were first developed at PSU.
Uh-oh! Naughty thoughts!
Two words/phrases bug me the most here in Ohio, and there they are.
I’m with E. Thorp. I grew up in Ohio, and when I read the OP, I thought, “What’s the matter with that sentence?!?!”
Bad Regallag! Bad!!
I read that how it should be understood and didn’t really worry much about it. Guess crazy German sentence order has gotten to me.
Regarding “all” meaning “all gone”, the dictionary is undoubtedly correct when it says it comes from PA Dutch (German). In standard German today you’d say “Das Milch ist alle” meaning “The milk’s all gone.”
I have family in Gettysburg, and learned a new one recently.
Me: Where are the chips?
Cousin: The chips’re all.
Me: … All? All what?
Cousin: … All.
Dad: <whispers> That means they’re gone. “All gone, all done… All”
My step-dad’s family is from PA, and I had to learn that when Grammie said “the milk’s all”…that was the end of the sentence! Oh, and she called elastic “gum”. “The gum in these shorts is give out.”
Nitpick: Only if you want to use the wrong article. Should be “Die Milch”.
I don’t feel bad, because I’d want to be corrected too.