A veterinarian in Pennsylvania Dutch Country runs into some strange terms. What’s wrong with a dog that’s doppick, or a cat that’s nixie? What does it mean to have your animal dressed? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Doppick and Nixie”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, hi.
Hello, who’s this?
This is Steva Stowell-Hardcastle.
Where are you calling from, Steva?
I am calling from Sealands Grove, Pennsylvania, at Companion Animal Hospital.
Oh, very nice. What do you do there?
I am a small animal veterinarian and co-owner of our practice.
Wow, that sounds like a cool work.
What can we help you with today?
Well, my husband and I were traveling across Indiana a couple weekends ago, and we tuned in your show as we were traveling. And I thought, I have a couple words I’ve always wanted to have somebody explain to me as a veterinarian when I moved here 20 years ago. I had owners describe their pet as being dopic.
Mm—
Really?
So my dog is very dopic, meaning that it’s kind of incoordinated.
Mm—
The second word is nixie. My kitten is very nixie. She gets on the table and she knocks things over.
Huh.
And the last one, which really kind of threw me, it was, how long before I can get my cat dressed?
Dressed?
Like, outfit? Boots?
Yeah.
Like, this is interesting. And a feathered cap.
So, yeah. And actually, you know, what they meant was, how long before I can have her spay?
Okay.
Oh, dressed. So let’s break these down one at a time. Most of this is part of the same puzzle. But Doppik is really interesting. You’ll often hear it said as Doppelich, D-O-P-L-I-C, or you’ll hear it as Dopsy. There’s a dozen different spellings for this word. But ultimately, Doppik comes from the German word Doppik, D-O-P-P-I-C-H, which means clumsy or awkward.
There you go. And so it is a direct borrowing into English from the Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch, whatever you want to call it. And it shows up all the time in that region of the country. And I’m not surprised to find that it’s still being used because it’s a pretty handy word.
Yes, it’s a wonderful word and certainly unique. And now that I’ve inherently over the years know what it means, you know, when somebody says other topic, I know what they’re describing. But I just wasn’t sure if there was a direct word in German that correlated with that.
Nixie was another one that you came up with. So if you have a Nixie kitty, that means the cat is doing what?
They’re naughty.
They’re naughty and playful. And they’re getting into trouble. This is a little more of a stretch, but I’m betting this also comes from German, from the German word N-I-C-H-T, which means no. Because when you have a cat or a child doing something they shouldn’t do, you’re just like, no, no, no, or nix, nix, nix, right?
That’s my guess, too. And you’ll find that nick, and it’s directly related to nix in English. So you say, you know, nix on that, meaning no to that. Tons of different ways that this is entered into the language, but in this particular case, it’s the word nicked, which means no.
And dressed. Dressed for spade?
This is harder, and this is a guess, but I’m not afraid of guessing. I think this is just related to the field term for what you do when you cut an animal open that you’ve killed for meat. You dress an animal in the field when you take out the innards and prepare it. Dump it in the salt water, however it is you’re preparing the animal.
Unfortunately, I think I probably have a little more finesse.
Yeah.
Thank goodness.
The field dressing.
Yeah, field dressing is a little different, but I think it’s probably related to that. Well, this is fascinating. We really should do some more digging on Pennsylvania Dutch. This is great stuff.
Well, we’ll definitely do some listing of some books and some resources on the language because it’s one of the several parts of the country where people still speak varieties of German, which is kind of surprising to outsiders. There’s a place in Texas where they do it, and there’s parts of the Great Lakes region, and don’t forget the Mennonite and the Amish. But it’s just really rich language, well-studied, too, which is the nice thing about it, which means there’s tons of information out there.
Well, thanks for this firsthand report. Steve, it was really nice to talk to you. Drop us a line sometime if you encounter anything new, all right?
I will.
Please do.
I will.
Take care.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Do they talk funny where you’re from or the place where you moved? 1-877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
