In a message dated 97-09-03 03:32:00 EDT, PENNA-DUTCH-L@rootsweb.com writes: << You've given your mother's origins away - waRsh is a western PA pronunciation. >> Bob, I wouldn't say it is western PA--merely far enough west or north of Philadelphia to lose the city accent. By the time you get to Lancaster (which no one other than an area resident pronounces correctly--LANK-ester and not LAN-CAST-er) you pretty much here the WARSH dialect. I have one to add to your list--"the car needs washed" leaving out the "to be." Joan Myers Young