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ℕ is for nixnootz
A rascally child
Who gets in trouble
And runs around wild!

The Pennsylvania Dutch are very loving to their children but you’ll often hear parents telling their little nixnootzes (or nichts-nutzes), “don’t be so nixie!”

ℕ is for nixnootz
A rascally child
Who gets into trouble
And runs around wild!

The Pennsylvania Dutch are very loving to their children, but you’ll often hear parents telling their little nixnootzes (or nichts-nutzes), “don’t be so nixie!”

_{In the name of scholarship, however, I did a search in both the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) and Google nGram Viewer, and both show nixie (so spelled) is virtually unused in [written] English, particularly not contemporary [written] English, and when it is, it’s used in an unrelated sense (Nixie tubes mostly, then water sprites, then a proper noun / given name Nixie).}

_{In the name of scholarship, however, I did a search in both the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) and Google nGram Viewer, and both show nixie (so spelled) is virtually unused in [written] English, particularly not contemporary [written] English, and when it is, it’s used in an unrelated sense (Nixie tubes mostly, then water sprites, then a proper noun / given name Nixie).}

As I said, this is hardly a scholarly work of linguistics, but the word’s inclusion in this particular primer does suggest (a) the work is unique or particular to Pennsylvania Dutch country and (b) it would be familiar to young children of that community (I believe such works are usually targeted at children around 5 years old).

At the outset, a caller introduces herself as a veterinarian who moved to Selinsgrove, PA (in central PA) 20 years prior to calling (so the time she spent and encounters these words is between 1990 and 2010).

_{In the name of scholarship, however, I did a search in both the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) and Google nGram Viewer, and both show nixie (so spelled) is virtually unused in English, particularly not contemporary English, and when it is, it’s used in an unrelated sense (Nixie tubes mostly, then water sprites, then a proper noun / given name Nixie).}

As I said, this is hardly a scholarly work of linguistics, but the word’s inclusion in this particular primer does suggest (a) the work is unique or particular to Pennsylvania Dutch country and (b) it would be familiar to young children of that community (I believe such books are usually targeted at children around 4-5 years old).

At the outset, a caller introduces herself as a veterinarian who moved to Selinsgrove, PA (in central PA) 20 years prior to calling (so the period she encountered the words below must have been between 1990 and 2010).

_{In the name of scholarship, however, I did a search in both the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) and Google nGram Viewer, and both show nixie (so spelled) is virtually unused in [written] English, particularly not contemporary [written] English, and when it is, it’s used in an unrelated sense (Nixie tubes mostly, then water sprites, then a proper noun / given name Nixie).}