Dear List,
I mentioned this prior year or so ago I think. My fathers parents who were from Bergedorf, Hamburg and Sande? near Bergedorf I believe spoke plattduesch. I believe this because old letters (sinse destroyed) I gave to a friend of mine whose parents were from Bonn. She and her parents fluent in German. My friend returned to me and advised that neither her or her parents could translante because the letters were in Low-German.
Now, my grandfather could read and write German (his dialect I suppose) as could my grandmother. My grandfather also learned to read and write American English. I believe his job description on his immigration list was turner or tanner? (whatever that is.)
In the U.S. he was a machinist by trade. I think during the WWII he worked at a factory that built bombs or bomb parts. I have a couple old models of bomb-looking things, though they also sort of look like a zeplin thingy. I often wonder what it must have been like for him working in an industry that could/might have bombed his home town. I know he had relatives and/or friends as he visited until he died in 1973.
He also was quite skilled at carpentry. I still have a piece of furniture (cocktail table) he built.
I suppose I say this because I think I take offense that some people are of the idea that Low-German describes an uneducated person.