Day 4 - 160 -- Lingo and Foodstuffs

I'd be remiss after a trip to the rock (Newfoundland and Labrador) without highlighting some of the uniqueness of the island. The local lingo can be difficult to follow for the uninitiated. The lyrical lilt of the accent can also be difficult to follow. I recall my first day on campus when the custodian stopped by my office to introduce himself. I got the basics and then he began to tell me something that to this day I don't understand. I just recall thinking that he was speaking English, but I didn't have a clue what was being said. I got better <smile>. I was reminded of that while in St. John's for the conference. Some of the unique sayings include:
-- Watta y'at? -- a standard greeting meaning what are you up to?
-- Stay where you're to 'til I comes where you're at -- stay where you are until I get there.
-- who knit ya? -- who are your parents? (an important question when many last names may be the same and one wants to know what arm of the family you belong to. On Cape Breton they ask "Whose your fadder?") <g>

Locals will mess with come from aways during the screeching in ceremony by getting them to say:
'Yes me old cock and long may your big jib draw.' This translates to "yes my old friend and may your future be good." One explanation of the first is that many cockney people moved to Newfoundland and referred to each other in this way. The latter phrase refers to the jib sail on a ship, so in effect is saying that wind be present to get you to your destination.

That brings me to food and drink. I mentioned the screeching in -- a ceremony for visitors to become honourary Newfoundlanders. Skreech is a version of dark Jamaican rum. Initiates must eat a piece of NL steak (bologna), drink a shot of Skreech and talk like a Newfoundlander as above. The ceremony ends with kissing something from Newfoundland -- generally this is a cod fish but I've also seen it with a stuffed toy puffin (the provincial bird) and 'kissing the puffin's arse' -- either way it can be a fun experience. A scoff is a feed of something -- a dinner. Local meals include Jigg's dinner, consisting of boiled salted beef with root vegetables and peas pudding (yellow peas cooked in a cloth bag suspended in the cooking water, which ends up as a thick puree of peas).  A local treat is chips and dressing -- seasoned bread crumbs (like poultry dressing) covered with fries and served with lots of gravy. Another use of 'dressing' is to coat a piece of cod before pan-frying. Toutins -- these were served for breakfast on the last day of the conference -- leftover small bits of bread dough flattened into disks and pan fried with butter (not a lot). These are served with molasses (and wild blueberry sauce for the conference goers).

Standing on the most eastern tip of North America was wonderful as was seeing my first real icebergs. The waves were huge even on the calmer day we were there. Seeing two of the bird islands in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve was breathtaking. Millions of birds -- puffins, awks, murres, and kittiwates -- use this area as a nesting ground. Each bird laying a single egg on land and then spending much of the rest of their life at sea until returning to nest each spring. There are millions of birds in the area (and that is counted) with about a half-million puffins. These are small birds with about four nesting pairs  per square foot! The cliffs are literally covered with birds -- an amazing scene. So, today will be another song from NL. It deals with the local lingo and is sung by a group from the rock. Enjoy!

What are You At -- Great Big Sea