Mennonite verb tense usage

[ohio jones]

I didn’t grow up Mennonite, I would have been Baptist/nondenominational all my childhood.

[GoodGirl]

We actually missed seeing our friends, who had wanted to visit our NICU baby, over this.

We were new to PA, and they made a comment that they ‘would’ visit us at the NICU that evening, but it came across as they ‘would’ as in, if it worked out & if they could. It came across to us as an offer.

So in the 30 minutes my husband & I left the NICU to eat that night, our friends showed up & weren’t allowed in since we were gone. We totally missed each other.

Another thing I notice is how they say “says” like “pays.”
We would say “says” with a short vowel sound for the A.
Our children grew up taking around their friends in PA & they say “says” with a long A sound.

[Josh]

Even odder is that the dialect of PA Dutch (and those the Dutchisms in English) are different in Ohio than in PA. I have no idea why.

My wife's brother in law speaks the unusual Bernese Swiss German (?) dialect. It isn't mutually intelligible with PA Dutch. There is a cluster of people in Muddy Pond TN who speak it.

[Heirbyadoption]

This might be simpler to ask here than giving it its own post...

What's with the Mennonite use of "Sure!" as a often repeated conversation response? Is it just the cultural filler for awkward silences and times when they don't know how to respond? And is it geographically broad, or is this more of a Pennsylvania thing?

[RZehr]

This might be simpler to ask here than giving it its own post...

What's with the Mennonite use of "Sure!" as a often repeated conversation response? Is it just the cultural filler for awkward silences and times when they don't know how to respond? And is it geographically broad, or is this more of a Pennsylvania thing?

Sure!

[GoodGirl]

Let’s not forget “very well.”

[Neto]

"til"

Years ago, either when my wife & I had just married, or maybe before that, I had been to the doctor, and was getting new eye glasses. Her Mom told me "Your glasses will be at the Berlin office til 11:00."

Me, thinking: "I wonder where they will take them after 11:00...."

(Hint: 'til' means 'by'.)

[RZehr]

I’m only familiar with “til” as an abbreviation of “until”. In my case, I would show up prior to 11:00. If it meant “by”, then that is indeed confusing. Would have the opposite effect on my arrival time.

[Josh]

In Indian English "til date" tends to mean "up to the present", as in "I was employed by Yoyodine, Inc. from 2018 til date."