# "Amish in the City" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280 "2004-07-28T15:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/1 "2004-07-28T15:46:38Z")
I was going to give [Amish in the City](http://www.upn.com/shows/amish_in_the_city/) a wide berth, but much to my sore amazement, the _NYT_ gave it a positive review! I mean, I hardly expect the Amish and “English” kids to sit around and have interesting philosophical or sociological discussions . . . But it sounds like (despite being on UPN!) it might be a notch above the usual reality-show drek. I know nothing about what the Amish actually believe, despite having been around them most of my life. We used to go on class trips to the Pennsylvania Dutch country when I was in junior high—a hugely bad idea. And the farmer’s market near my mother is largely staffed by very nice Amish people. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/2 "2004-07-28T15:48:50Z")
I read recently that the Pennsylvania Dutch actually have German origins rather than Dutch, and that the phrase is a corruption of Pennsylvania Deutsch. Is that actually the case? ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/3 "2004-07-28T15:51:26Z")
Check out “The Devil’s Playgroud” for an eye-opening look at the Amish. I really don’t get the point of the program. I mean, it’s not like the Amish are some kind of crazy cargo cult, gaping at the horseless carts and flying metal brids. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/4 "2004-07-28T16:02:15Z")
> [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > I read recently that the Pennsylvania Dutch actually have German origins rather than Dutch, and that the phrase is a corruption of Pennsylvania Deutsch. Is that actually the case? “In the 18th century German speakers constituted a significant fraction of the population only in Pennsylvania (remember the Pennsylvania Dutch?)…” - [Cecil Adams](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/5 "2004-07-28T16:11:11Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > I really don’t get the point of the program. I mean, it’s not like the Amish are some kind of crazy cargo cult, gaping at the horseless carts and flying metal brids. The program is supposed to make the city kids out as the weirdos. > [@](#): > > [USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2004-07-27-amish_x.htm) > > Indeed, you get the clear impression the producers purposely chose six city kids who would be badly behaved easy targets, knowing that presenting the Amish in a negative light would get the show in trouble. As it is, these self-satisfied, star-wannabe, citified camera hogs are like an anti-temptation: A few weeks in the city with them, and you might be tempted to opt for an Amish farm yourself. > > Still, if the show doesn’t mock the Amish, neither does it treat them or their traditions with respect. Despite the show’s cultural pretensions, neither we nor the Amish kids are experiencing anything close to rumspringa, which in real life does not come with free food, housing, money and adventures provided. These kids aren’t experiencing life, they’re experiencing reality TV. > > That said, the show does have its moments of charm — all of them provided by the five Amish young adults, who range in age from 18 to 24. It might be worth taping the show just to fast-forward to the moment when Ruth sees the ocean for the first time: Her sheer kid-at-Christmas joy is so infectious, it even manages to temporarily mute the braying city kids. > > Alas, not for long enough. Seldom has a reality show gathered a more obnoxious set of stereotypes, from the self-proclaimed “ultimate party girl” to the man-hungry gay party planner, to the Boston busboy who craves “being in the spotlight.” For these folks, the Amish are simply a sideshow: They spend most of the premiere fighting among themselves and proclaiming their God-given right to “hook up” on national TV. > > Yet as hateful as the show’s urban bad examples can be, City may have found a star in Ariel, the radical vegan who calls eggs “chicken abortions” and thinks cows come from outer space. At least that gives the Amish kids a good laugh and distracts them from the rude behavior that otherwise constantly comes their way from their supposedly sophisticated roommates. Clearly, their parents have spent too much time boosting their self-esteem and too little teaching them rudimentary manners. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/6 "2004-07-28T16:21:19Z")
I already love to hate Veggie Ariel: “Everything that is bad in this world right now is directly related to meat . . .” Well, yeah, in that people are _made_ out of meat, I guess . . . ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/7 "2004-07-28T17:07:06Z")
I’m from da Bronx, and sometimes people are amazed that half my family hasn’t been murdered in drug wars or had their houses burned down around them. Also that I can say “please”, “thank you”, “excuse me”, and other such civilized things. And yes, I was raised here during the Fort Apache years (although my neighborhood escaped the worst of it; but there was smoke on the horizon all too often). So, as a gen-you-wine city gal, I apologize in advance for the “city kids” in tonight’s episode. They seem to be distilled stereotypes. For 30 years, my parents and sometimes me and my siblings have stayed for a week or two in a cabin near Strasburg, PA, heart of the Dutch country. There’s tons of books and exhibits about the Amish around there but the best for newbies would be [this website](http://www.thepeoplesplace.com/), that of The People’s Place in Intercourse (shut up). ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/8 "2004-07-28T18:25:35Z")
My paper gave it a good review, too. One example they listed of the space-cadet Vegan was a grocery store trip where she objected to the Amish kids buying eggs. The one boy pointed out that Abe Lincoln probably ate eggs, and she says Lincoln “probably died really young, like 35.” The Amish boy has to point out that he didn’t die from eating eggs, and she doesn’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/9 "2004-07-28T18:39:01Z")
Shows what you know. Booth got him with an egg to the back of the head. Hard-boiled of course. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/10 "2004-07-28T18:42:22Z")
_::: lobs raw, rotten eggs all over **Loach** :::_ Smart-ass. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/11 "2004-07-28T20:21:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Smart-ass. I’m glad someone around here noticed 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/12 "2004-07-29T00:39:33Z")
Who do I hate the most? Two-Dollar Whore Fashion Girl? Vegerella? Or the Boston Beanie? On the other hand, Kevan makes up for all the other City Kids. I want to hear what the Amish think about gays, atheists, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/13 "2004-07-29T00:45:09Z")
Is the first episode tonight? I must see this show. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/14 "2004-07-29T01:03:02Z")
Yow–they had, of course, to pick the most stereotypical nelly queen and the most self-righteous, pompous veggie, to give the Amish the wrong idea . . . I’d hate to be a customer in Vegarella’s restaurant: “So, you want some chicken abortions? _They killed Lincoln_, you know.” I love Mose and Ruth . . . but Mose’s admitted religious obsession makes me wonder: what exactly do the Amish believe? Aren’t they basically _extreme_ fundamentalist Christians? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/15 "2004-07-29T01:29:20Z")
I like Mose. He makes toys ( I have a stick I bout at a county fair years ago. Though, I heard them called hootie sticks), and he has a very corny sense of humor. I keep hoping they’ll anounce a website where you can buy some of the puzzles he makes, or post instructions on how to make some of them. Re Atheists WAG “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.” I can’t remember book, chapter or verse Re Gays I don’t know. I’d imagine that some teenagers discover that they are gay during rumspringa. Either they leave the community, or marry and stay in the closet all their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/16 "2004-07-29T01:32:47Z")
I really like most of the Amish kids, but every so often something whizzes by that really gives me the creeps: girls are not encouraged to swim; they’re supposed to stay home and cook; they all leave school in 8th grade; "Amish don’t study art, because they think it’s not important . . " Those poor kids! [P.S. Do you get the impression that there are going to be shows on UPN this fall about a black lawyer and a high-school private eye? Just an _impression_ . . .] ---
**Author:** ![Feit\_C\_Taj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@Feit\_C\_Taj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feit_C_Taj)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/17 "2004-07-29T01:50:32Z")
And of course, here in the land of the Amish, [we don’t get to watch it](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=494&ncid=494&e=6&u=/ap/20040728/ap_en_tv/tv_amish_in_the_city). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/18 "2004-07-29T03:58:12Z")
[The Amish and the Mennonites: beliefs, practices and conflicts.](http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/19 "2004-07-29T04:15:56Z")
So…about Ariel’s whole cows from space thing. What the hell was that about? Is this a big belief among some people, or did she just decide it on her own one day. I really wish they had her go into more detail on that…it’s pretty weird. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280/20 "2004-07-29T05:14:57Z")
Just saw it. I will be watching the series mainly because I’m hoping for more “just saw the ocean” moments. That was the sweetest thing I’ve seen on television in a while, if not ever. The city kids pissed me off from the beginning, the way they laughed in the amish kids faces when the answered the door. And then they made a big deal about sharing a room. Imagin the holy hell that would be paid if someone said, “There is no way I’m stepping over black people.” And yet it was okay for him to say that about the amish kids. Keavon, I don’t hate him. But I hate everyone else. Ariel is…wow! I mean…indescribable. Is it just me, or does she look sickly. Reese pissed me off. Meagan looks worn out. Her skin looks leathery. Brad is just plain annoying. I found it funny at the end, where the amish kids were getting mad at the city kids for talking about them behind there backs. Whitney says, “Tell me what you think about me while I’m in a good mood.” I was like, WTF?, like she’s going to do anything. In a throwdown, the amish kids would win. I genuinly feel sorry for them. Their first experiance in city life, they are surrounded by a bunch of assholes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all decided to go back to amish life, especially after Whitney said, “We may like eachother, but we’ll always talk shit behind their backs. That’s how we do it in the city.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amish-in-the-city/257280.md?page=2)