Friday, January 27, 2006

The answers revealed


its quite amusing.
here are the answers to the Lancaster County True or False:

1) Amish people are really poor. FALSE. many of them make quite a bit of money. think about it: tourists come to the area (though i'm not sure why) and think "real amish people made this! i'm gonna buy it!" quilts are a big seller. the women make them and sell them for a huge price. They also breed horses, and also dogs, and other animals, and people buy them cuz they think they must be good quality. (which they arent necessarily.) and another contributing factor is--

2) The amish dont have to pay taxes. TRUE! okay, if they go out to the store, they pay sales tax. but not like income tax, property tax, local taxes or anything. I'm not really sure why that is. But, its true.

3) If you see a horse and buggy on the road, its an amish person. FALSE. The amish arent the only ones with horse and buggies. The strictest sect of mennonites do also. You can tell the difference b/c amish have gray buggies and old-order mennonites have black ones. (and also how they dress, but i can talk about that later.)

4) They are completely seperated from "the english." FALSE. they shop at walmart. COME ON! how dumb is that. and they go to the mall. and they go lots of other places. and the thing i hate the most, is that when they see you, they give you this look of distain. and i think: "you're the one who came here."

5) The PA dutch come from holland. False. Though people speak dutch in holland-- the PA dutch originate from germany. they speak a dialect of german-- a lot the same, but with some differences. Though, most people today dont speak it. well, i think the mennonite do. but besides that, most dont know it. i personally only know a few phrases. (gutenhimmel -- i think thats how its spelled.) I'll probably share them at a later date.

6) Red barns were originally painted with animal's blood. TRUE and FALSE. Okay, my husband swore to me that it was really true. So, i believe that once upon a time he heard someone say that. ... But i did some online research today and couldnt find it stated anywhere.

7) Some amish grow tobacco and marijuana. TRUE. not all of them do. i remember this scandal from a few years back. Some amish kids were caught by police for it. But, they werent punished by "law" in any way. the police left the kids to their parents and community to punish. hmmm...

8) The mennonite are the same as the amish. FALSE. They do originate from that same PA dutch background. but, there are so many TYPES of mennonite. Like i said earlier, some even use horse and buggies. i think the only modern things they have are phones and electricity. (i could be wrong on that.) Some other time i'll explain all the other kinds.

9) The amish live only in Lancaster County. FALSE. there are some all over the place. Ohio and delaware for example. Its just, there are bigger numbers in PA

10) Lancaster is mainly underdeveloped and farm land. FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE!!!! what you dont know is that Lancaster itself is a city. (ok, not near as big as Philadelphia-- but a city nonetheless.) it has all the problems that cities have: overcrowded, crime, poverty. I've gotten lost in there before. (haha, funny story.) but, many parts of the county are farms... just not all.

6 comments:

mistyblue3 said...

This is very interesting stuff! We have Amish all over MI as well, but I don't know much about them at all. When I was little, I would play w/ some amish girls that lived close by my Aunt's house in Clare, MI. I remeber going to some sort of Auction or Fare w/ them where they displayed their goods or something... Wish I could remember more. Do you know anything about what happens when an Amish kid turns 16? I can't recall the name of it, but they are let loose so to speak, to check out the world and do as they please, for a few months up to a few years. During this time, the parents just turn a blind eye as to what they do. At the end of this period, they have to decide on thier own weather or not to join the community as an adult, or leave forever. I saw a documentry about it called "Devil's Playground" I'd like to know more about that, if you have any info on it :)

Beth Danae said...

I got soo many wrong...

Becky L said...

clairissa, what i read on some website was that lancaster county had more than any other county. maybe it was just talking about PA counties, or maybe the amish in ohio are spread out more and not mainly in one area.

Anonymous said...

Mistyblue3- it's called Rumspringa.
For more details: http://forums.crosswalk.com/m_457931/printable.htm

Anonymous said...

Rumschpringe - Amish parents seem to turn their backs on what the teens are doing because they want the teens to have FREE CHOICE to make their decision to join the Amish community or to turn their backs on the community and join the "English" non-Amish world.

Lindsey said...

I'm learning so much. They don't have to pay taxes?! What...how is that fair?!