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Repetitious Sentence Endings Unique to Central PA, So They Are

December 31st, 2007 · 2 Comments

A Penn State Altoona professor declares that the way central Pennsylvanians end their sentences with repetitious declarations is a “unique linguistic tradition,” so he said.
Dr. Alban Myersdeen, an English professor, so he is, has been studying the folk tongues of the area for over ten years.

“It’s unlike anything I’ve encountered,” he said, so he said. “A true cultural phenomenon.”

Regional residents are not surprised by the study, so they’re not. They say it’s just the way you speak, so you do.

“Well, my pappy, such as he was, talked that way, so he did,” said Elmer Wyeth, a long-time resident of Blair County, so he is. “And that’s just the way we talked, so we did.”

According to Myersdeen, young central Pennsylvania residents use a variation of the older form, so they do, by adding irrelevant words on the end of statements, ‘n stuff.

“Saying things at the end of sentences, ‘n stuff, is just a way of politely keeping the conversation going, ‘n that,” Chitayd Finklestein, of the Blair Apartments in Altoona, explained, ‘n that. “It’s just the way we been brunged up, ‘n that.”

Myersdeen is not done with researching the language pecularities of central PA. He plans to study why drunk people in Blair County often ask people to say their names, so they do.

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Tags: Altoona · Linguistics

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 JumpmasterRT // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:32 am

    I’m from Central PA and my family still lives there (Harrisburg, Hershey, Lebanon). To our knowledge, none of us use it, and none of us have heard it. I believe that the good doctor may want to reevaluate his research and determine the actual region where this phenomenon occurs rather than lumping everyone together.

  • 2 SpankyMcFadden // Aug 14, 2008 at 1:27 pm

    I’ve known many CentralPA-oids. I’ve worked with many CentralPA-oids. You Sir are no CentralPA-oid. You are a South Central PA Flatlander. South Central-oids have their own idiomatic expressions and a well known proclivity for correcting fabricated mistakes. Please keep your Amish addled remarks where they belong - in Lancaster and it’s environs.

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