Ebbie--

I was 2 years in Germany. I've heard a lot of German--in the Umgangssprache--and I had an intensive German course before I even went over there--8 months, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day .   I've aways been very interested in languages--that's why I was curious to know about the German spoken in Amish church services.

Germans, informally, do in fact express themselves as I have indicated (starting with "Du", for instance. It would be the equivalent of "Hey" in English. (As in "Hey Mom").

Another question for you--can you tell us anything about "rumspringen"-supposedly a custom whereby Amish teenagers can get a dose of the outside world--possibly innoculating them against it?    Is this so?