Absolutely!!!! I remember "What for kind of" was used a lot in my day!!! and area. I remember it being used by some of my relatives, and friends, in the past, and even one of them says that now. Thanks again Richard Emlin Reed :o) How would you have said "Vehicle"? I say that now-a-days, because I never know what it is, if I say van, "no, it's an SUV", if I say car, just meaning what you are driving, "No, it's 'this or that, and the other thing' ". It's never what I say, so I just say vehicle, instead of trying to guess what kind of car it is ;o) Yes, it makes a whole lot of sense, and I remember a lot of people using "machine" around me, in my youth, just can't remember who all said it for describing a car, or truck_or piece of farm equipment. :o) Lynn Richard Emlin Reed wrote: My last two contributions elicited such terrific responses that I am inspired to assay another essay. In the PA-Dutch region in which I was raised, we had an expression that I am inclined to believe was peculiar to that region. We would ask, "What for a [thing] is this?". This was a direct translation from PA-Dutch " Wos fah e'n [ding] is des?". In German, "Was für" means "What sort or kind of". It could also nean "what"; as in, "Was für ein schönes haus". "What a lovely house". Anyway, it was a common idiom in my home town. Where you say "what kind of" today; we said "what for". "What for a house", "What for a hat", "What for a machine". Today we say "car"; when I was a boy, we said "automobile or machine". My wife's grandfather never called it anything else. Every Saturday morning, he would don his overalls and say, "Vell, ich moos dee machine vesha" (Well, I must wash the machine). Does any of this make any sense? What for a fool am I to scribble it! }:-) Fahgesst net; alles fah shposs un' nix fah ungoot (No offense).

Lynn mentioned "vehicle" - the "h" is silent, but I get such a kick out of people who say vee-hick-le! We just moved to the most hick, redneck town, and it is a common pronunciation here; that and PO-lice. I'm hoping I don't start to twang anytime soon. I drive a mini-van and sometimes I don't know what to call it. I hate to say "van" because it really isn't. My title says it is a station wagon, but egads, I'd die a thousand deaths at the thought of driving one of those now! So would my kids. LOL! I usually just use the general term "car". I possess the post card my grandma wrote to her grandmother in 1912. Grandma was 9 years old and she told about her very first ride in the automobile that very day. I'm not sure if I personally know of anyone who called them machines, but I'm in my 40s. Maybe that was before my time. I have a photo of my dad and family in front of their 1940-something Woodies (sp?). Now that was a piece of work. Judy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lynn Vondran" <lynnvondran@att.net> To: <padutch-life@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:23 AM Subject: Re: [PD-LIFE] What For Absolutely!!!! I remember "What for kind of" was used a lot in my day!!! and area. I remember it being used by some of my relatives, and friends, in the past, and even one of them says that now. Thanks again Richard Emlin Reed :o) How would you have said "Vehicle"? I say that now-a-days, because I never know what it is, if I say van, "no, it's an SUV", if I say car, just meaning what you are driving, "No, it's 'this or that, and the other thing' ". It's never what I say, so I just say vehicle, instead of trying to guess what kind of car it is ;o) Yes, it makes a whole lot of sense, and I remember a lot of people using "machine" around me, in my youth, just can't remember who all said it for describing a car, or truck_or piece of farm equipment. :o) Lynn Richard Emlin Reed wrote: My last two contributions elicited such terrific responses that I am inspired to assay another essay. In the PA-Dutch region in which I was raised, we had an expression that I am inclined to believe was peculiar to that region. We would ask, "What for a [thing] is this?". This was a direct translation from PA-Dutch " Wos fah e'n [ding] is des?". In German, "Was für" means "What sort or kind of". It could also nean "what"; as in, "Was für ein schönes haus". "What a lovely house". Anyway, it was a common idiom in my home town. Where you say "what kind of" today; we said "what for". "What for a house", "What for a hat", "What for a machine". Today we say "car"; when I was a boy, we said "automobile or machine". My wife's grandfather never called it anything else. Every Saturday morning, he would don his overalls and say, "Vell, ich moos dee machine vesha" (Well, I must wash the machine). Does any of this make any sense? What for a fool am I to scribble it! }:-) Fahgesst net; alles fah shposs un' nix fah ungoot (No offense). ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PADUTCH-LIFE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message