I realize that there were regions of Germany where Plattdeutsch was more
prevalent (such as Hannover) than in other areas but I am still wondering
if High German was not the German taught in schools and Low German is
what was spoken in your local. I am also guessing in some places the Low
German was different than in other places and High German stayed more
consistent from local to local? This is not to say that language accents
did not differ from area to area even with in taught High German
It is the same here in the USA. Look at the differences from north to
south or east to west but the Language taught in school is the same. In
the south it is a "Bar Pit" and in the north a "Road Ditch" In the north
we have "Sacks" and in the south they have "Pokes" etc---Bob Marhenke
Hey, I'm sorry I brought it up. And my apologies, Heide. I'd like to hear from a qualified linguist who can tell the difference between Plattdeutch and Frisian and whatever else is out there, and can speak to the actual picture out there. I assumed it was Plattdeutsch. My cousin, born and raised in Grossefehn-Timmel, said it was Plattdeutsch. This is sure a hot topic whenever one of us brings it up, nicht war?
Larry
Why don't you all just look at the very extensive (and as far as my experience goes, accurate) article here: Niederdeutsche Sprache – Wikipedia . Even if you don't read German very well, you can get the gist of it. Plattdeutsch is the layman's term for Niederdeutsch, a familiy of dialects in northern Germany. See the article for details.
Plattdeutsch was the German spoken in North where the elevation was lower......hence the term "Low German". High German was spoken to the south toward the mountains where the elevation was higher, hence the term "High German".
So my US-born grandfather, whose parents were from Hannover, really had no reason to be so terribly insulted when his wife's brother-in-law from the mountainous Eifel Region called him "Plattdeutsch" -- and that was NOT a sound and rational reason for starting a lifelong family feud?
Ha Ha, who knows? In a written family history of my ancestors who immigrated to rural Michigan in 1872 it was written that my great Aunts and Uncles on the farm would embarrass their parents by speaking "Low German" in front of guests. They could speak "High German" if they wanted to but "Low German" was what they spoke at home normally.
I don't want to offend anyone here. When I said it was written that my ancestors would embarrass their parents I interpreted that to mean that many of the other Germans who immigrated to the rural area in Michigan were from all different parts of Germany and apparently to most of them Plattdeutsh was not considered as sophistocated as "High German" My Great Aunts and Uncles seemed to purposely speak Plattdeustsch knowing that would irk their parents. It was just a cute little teasing among them. There was a lot of joking going on among my ancesotrs. I've seen photos of them on the farm around 1900 and they were cards, there were 14 children in the family!
