Newfoundland, A Primer

Well, I know this is supposed to be about England, but I thought that I'd write a wee bit about the home and narive and of most of the people I'm living with here at the Maltings. A small but distinct society within Canada: The Newfoundlanders.

Firstly, Newfies are lacking one of the most Canadian of all qualities: the 'eh'. In fact, some of the people here are actually worried that they'll start saying it. While most people I know from other necks of the woods (Ontario?) cherish the 'eh' as a symbol of their Canadian-ness, or just say it without knowing as a sign of deference at the end of a sentence, the newfies seem to not even know the extent of the word's use. However, they do throw 'by' at the end of many a sentence, which, as best I can tell, means something like "man".

A hilarious trend when we first got to the fine country of England, and everyone set about their first task (getting food) was the buying of tea. Evidently a lot of people drink it, as opposed to coffee, in their group. However, they were shocked to find Tetley Tea on the shelves of the local Tesco's, believing that this was a Newfoundland tea. (And, if you ask me, they thought that anyway until someone actually pointed out that it was British and not simply imported from the homeland.) Note that this wasn't one person, this was most of the MUN crew's belief.

And, for those grammar fanatics out there, don't mention to these lovely, kind people that their manner of speaking is incorrect, or that prepositions really shouldn't be tacked onto the ends of sentences. No, no...that is just how they talk, and they like it that way. Frankly, I think it's endearing, although I'm trying as hard not to say "where're ya to?" as they are not to say 'eh'.

The cultural infusion continues with the tales from St. John's of the three hookers in town (Trixie, "the one who beat me up" and the redhead), and other various George St. Stories. This includes Melissa's apt description of finding someone to take home at the end of the night while cruising the George Street Bars: "On George St, the odds are good, but the goods are odd." Finally, today we all heard stories of "the bubble" which is apparently a giant ball of...well, let's just say sewage, that has been collecting in the harbour for quite some time now. Everyone seems to know a story about someone who fell in and barely survived...etc etc...'if it hadn't been for the tetanus shot...' I can't tell if it's urban myth or simply everyone really does know this guy who fell in the harbor. The odds for either are pretty good.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more comment on the Newfs at another time, but that's all for now.

School owns me life, 'by.
-Nat