Newfoundland Speak 101

Since today was mostly a travel day, (we arrived mid-afternoon in Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park) I thought that I might give you all a brief lesson in some basic Newfoundland words and phrases. While I thought that I was prepared to tackle the accent and odd phrasings, I have to admit that the speed of the conversations and the outright strangeness of some of the slang has caught me off-guard. But....I am getting it and can almost mimic the lilt. Give me a month here and I'd be chattering like an Islander.

Yes b'y-this means yes. The Newfoundlanders use b'y the same way that I might use sir or ma'am. There is no gender assigned to the word.
Go awn wich ya-really?
Swarvin'-means meandering. It is the way that they describe what we tourists do.
Who ownes you?-Who are your parents and what are their names?
Mudder n fadder-Those are the aforementioned parents.
Toutons-a local delicacy that is fried dough covered in syrup and preserves. Think donuts served like pancakes or waffles.
Jiggs Dinner-a traditional Newfoundland dinner often served on Sundays. It consists of salted beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and turnip greens all boiled together. (There's more, but I just can't go on without feeling a bit queasy. Look it up if you want to try it.)
Tits up in he rhubarb-falling down drunk.
Missus-any woman
And there you have a basic primer of Newfoundland slang. There is so much more but you need to drop over 'round by and by and learn some of it for yourself.

Here's a photo from today's preliminary hike in Gros Morne. We finally had summer weather. Yay! It was positively humid!!

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