Today alone, I had to deal with bicycles 4 abreast on a country road. Came over a hill, and there they were. This is just stupid as well as inconsiderate.
The buggies chew up the road.
I’m repeatedly thowing these guys off the property for tresspasing.
Our next door neighbor Almish repeatedly let their horses graze in our alfalfa field and fished at our pond leaving garbage all over the place. I called the police on them, and after the third try they caught one red-handed and arrested him for poaching.
When they are among themselves they speak English, but when I catch a group of them on my property, they mutter in Dutch to each other.
Right now my neighbor has klieg lights up in his yard, and has a bunch of Amish folk drinking and playing with homemade fireworks. I have hay drying in the field in rows not 20 yards from where they are setting these things off. When I went over and politley asked them not to set my field on fire, they did the dutch mutter again.
Yeah, it’s really some German dialect or something, I just call it Dutch in my ignorance. No, they are not supposed to drink. They are also not supposed to ride four abreast, tresspass, poach, or set my fields afire.
At least as these guys are around me, they are the most hypocritical sef-serving elitist scumbag lying sacks of inbred shit that I have ever seen.
Did I mention that they also have a puppy mill? They have about 100 dogs crammed into two kennels in disgraceful conditions. They yap all day and night, and when the wind blows in the right direction I get a nice whiff.
THey put the kennels up illegally without a permit, and they ware within ten feet of my property line which is against zoning. That doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that they faced the open part of the kennels towards me. Real considerate, huh?
I’m thinking about surveying the property line, and making them move the kennels. I know others have complained, but I figure that it’s only a matter of time till the humane society shuts these asses down.
Besides, VV, even if the Amish were there first, Scylla shouldn’t have to move. Being somewhere first gives you the right to destroy property and act like an asshole?
I do not understand the way they shun technology? They will not use cars or electricity but they will use buggies, bicycles and lanterns.
Do they fucking think GOD made these things? What the fuck?!? Buggies and oil lanterns and butter churners ARE technology, just really out dated, shitty examples. At one point, though, these things were top of the line! They were the best things that science and technology had at to offer. So why is it ok for them to use that stuff, but not newer stuff??
To me that is like owning a 1200 baud modem and then all of a sudden condeming to hell every person who upgraded to the 56k. How does their hypocritical little minds work?
I don’t BELIEVE this! I grew up in one of the largest Amish settlements in the WORLD, (Holmes County, Ohio) so I am uniquely qualified to reply to this thread.
First off, their language is called “old German,” and I think its relationship to modern German is about that of late-Middle English to regular English, although written out they’re pretty much identical.
Second, Amish children are allowed to run wild by their parents, sometimes until their mid-20’s. All bets are off when dealing with a younger Amish person. The idea is for them to “get it out of their system” before they settle down and officially join the Church. I know an adult Amish would NEVER do something like set off fireworks, and rarely are they rude or difficult. Sadly, the younger people are a different story. I would be willing to bet that all the OP’s problems were with younger Amish people. But they’re no more immature and destructive as anyone else their age. As a former resident of several college neighborhoods, I can attest to this.
Third, yes, they do talk “Pennsylvania Dutch” around non-Amish, but it’s usually only the younger people who are saying rude things when they do so. Often, the children can’t understand English at all until they’re about 8 or so. I had a friend in high school whose father had left the Church as a young man, and he spoke the language. Her whole family was eating in Pizza Hut when a couple of young Amish men dressed in ordinary clothes (you can still tell who they are from their haircuts and clothing style, since most of it is homemade) sat down at a table adjacent to theirs. Not knowing that my friend’s father could understand everything they were saying, they proceeded to talk about how great my friend’s mother’s breasts were, and what they would do with her alone. Meanwhile, as you can imagine, her Dad was doing a slow burn. As they got up to leave, he said something to them in their own language, such as “if we weren’t in a public place, you both would’ve had your asses kicked by now.” I hear they were both astonished, and QUITE mortified.
Fourth: yeah, they do put ruts in the roads with their buggies. But the electric company that keeps your TV running pollutes the air. Who really does more damage?
Wow, that just blows my mind, Scylla…how awful. I’ve never, ever heard of any of the Amish around here acting in such a manner. In fact, our family gets along quite well with them, an Amish couple came to my grandfather’s funeral, and my grandmother often goes to their weddings and funerals and stuff.
The only problems we’ve ever had with the Amish are, a few years ago, there were a couple men who would sneak into our house during the day to use the phone (I know, it doesn’t make sense to me, either). We never lock our doors except when we go on vacation, but one day, my mother happened to be home from work, and she heard a noise in the basement, and lo and behold, there was this Amish guy using the phone.
Prior to midnight Dec. 31, 1999, I was totally against saying anything bad about the Amish. I figured, just in case society did collapse, it might be handy to be on good terms with someone who actually knows how a horse-drawn plow is supposed to work. But now that’s all over, I say:
Bash away! Those smelly bastards!
(Oddly enough, in the area of Ohio where I grew up, all the Amish men seem to become electricians! They won’t have that devil’s contrivance in their own homes, but they’ll wire you up, no problem.)
Gee, Scylla, you must be neighbor to some Poor Amish Trash, because what you’re describing is almost comically opposed to every “simple person” I’ve ever met or heard of.
The inhuman puppy mill thing was a nice touch…but plain fact is the Amish (Shakers, etc.) are almost unnerving in in their adherence to cleanliness and care of animals. As a matter of fact, they were activly persecuted for their stubborn (progressive?) insistence on care for animals. To be blunt, I’d eat in an Amish barn with more confidence than many an “English” kitchen.
This isn’t sentimentalism; it’s applied experience. I don’t share their faith or presumptions for a skinny minute, but this OP reeks of opportunistic bigotry. (How many Amish are hangin’ around online to smack you down?)
They’re different, no doubt about that. And I could’t embrace their world view, faith or narrowness, ever. But cheap shots are somewhere on the other side of tacky, verging on obscenity.
You have a hard on about animal welfare? Have you called the local authorities? The Amish–along w/ all others–are not above the law. If you haven’t, why not? They drive buggies in “your streets”? Get over it.
I’m rarely angry, but this whole tirade counters everything common sense and experience has taught me.
This thread got me thinking about those Nazi Groundhogs and whether they are still around.
You might just be in luck IF the puppy mill dogs are dachshunds, a German breed known for their tenacity and ability to “go to ground” to kill badgers. Those dogs will completely clear your field out. Check it out before you try to get the puppy mill shut down.
Afterwards you can turn the Evil Amish neighbors from hell in for running a puppy mill. Dachshund lovers absolutely HATE puppy mill owners. Post their address on the Dachshund webring and there will be thousands of protestors [a la abortion] in front of your neighbor’s house tomorrow morning. You’ll have the satisfaction that your Evil Amish neighbor will be squirming… You should show up, announce that you never knew what was happening with these darling dogs, adopt two or three dachshunds on the spot [for field maintenance against future invasions of Nazi groundhogs] and leave - waving to your Evil Amish neighbors stuck inside their house.
And just what is your vast experience with Pa. Dutch that makes you such an athority? Perhaps I’m hallucinating the whole thing. Perhaps the trespassing and poaching is just my bigotry showing through?
What do you know? Not enough to call me a liar and a bigot, that’s for sure.
When I first moved to PA I was excited about living near Amish. I too had heard all the myths. THe reality though was pretty disapointing.