Newfoundlander

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/60090

Newfoundlander A Newfoundlander, yes or no? Your editorial of Aug. 9 has spurred me on to pen these lines. I have just arrived to live in New- foundland from Quebec. In Quebec, I considered myself to be a Quebecer (or Quebecois), when I was speaking French. By an accident however, (attributable to the sad plight of the Irish nation), I happen to have been born in England. Still, because of my Irish parentage and upbringing, I doubt if I could pass as being an En- glishman. I feel very much at home here in Newfoundland and in no way feel alien to the character and cul- ture of the island. In fact, I feel like I've come home. I can assure you that the phrase _"a native Quebecer"_ is used in Quebec, as is its French equivalent "Quebe- cois de vieille souche" (Quebecer of the old stock) or the alternative "pure laine" (pure wool). As a bil- ingual non-native Canadian (excuse the expression), working in a franco- phone milieu in Quebec, I came to realize that these labels were being used to keep non-natives at a dis- tance, and more importantly to ex- clude "les autres" from jobs. It is in- teresting that I never came across these feelings of xenophobia in my dealings with ordinary people. It seems to be purely an upper-middle class phenomenon. I have worked with people from Newfoundland in Schefferville, on the Labrador border and in Toronto and have often heard the term "_New- fie_" used by them as a self-descrip- tor with no pejorative connotation. When I have used the term "new- foundlander," I have been mildly re- buked for pomposity. At other times, I have been upbraided for using "_Newfie_." Now I play it safe and avoid the reference altogether. I have not really had enough expe- rience here to discern whether this verbal distinction is due to a class phenomena as in Quebec, or whether it is a Celtic belligerent remnant. (Don't forget that the people of southwest England as well as the Ir- ish are Celts.) In Scotland, they guard the terms "Scot" and "Scotch" to get you into a fight. If you maladroitly call ...