Poem's by Rose M Sullivan of Trinity (1900-1964)

My simple rhyme will only deal
With our customs and vernacular
I leave to better poets to write
Of the dramatic and spectacular.
 

 
The Typical Newfoundlander  

The typical Newfoundlander-
And I'm proud that I am one-
Besides the King's good English
Has a language all his own.

For instance, if you meet one
And enquire about his health,
He's not "just fine" nor "like the bird"
He's "first rate boy-How's yourself?"

Such sayings as "I bound you will",
"Sove up" and "hard afrore,"
And "most to rights" and "straightened up"
And "dunch" and "dout the fire"-

Those need no definitions
We heard them in our cradles.
We know now much a "yafful" is
Though it wasn't in our tables.

We all know what a "graple" is,
A "hall-off" and a "killock,"
I spent my time around the punts
Although I was a "twillick."

There's "slewed around" and "went to work"
"Turned to" and "took a spell,"
While of "clever looking" boys and girls
I'm sure we've all "heard tell."
 

We go "round the bally ca'ters"
When there's "swatches" in the ice,
And only a Newfoundlander
Can "fall down and get a h'ist."

You'd never guess that a "bedlamer"
Is an adolescent lad
While intermittent snow flurries
Are "dwighs" or "just a scad."

Poor Grandpa, he's " all crippled up"
With "Rheumatiz" (not gout)
He "keels down on the settle"
And says he's "fair wore out."

Sometimes he gets his "dander up"
Because he "lost his spring"
He frets and grumbles when he thinks
How his work is "all in slings."
 

Now other people say "down South"
This I don't understand
For everybody always says
"Down North" in Newfoundland.

I must be odd on a couple of points
Though typical as a rule
For I don't mind being called a "Newfie"
But I can't "glutch" Biddy O'Toole.

Some think we live on fish and spuds-
This fairly makes me boil.
Yet 'tis a treat when spring comes round
To get a meal of "swile."

We used to have such hearty grub
As "toutons," "duffs" and "tarts",
But the maids have gone romantic
With their cookies shaped like hearts.
 

A local dish is "fish and Brewis"
The youngsters like the "scrunchin's,"
And they like the "lassy sugar"
From the bottom of the puncheon.

Besides the reg'lar meal times
You'll see all the hands knock off
For their "lev'ner" and their "fourer",
A "mug-up" or a "skoff."
 

Does your clock sometimes be "Random?"
Were you ever "in a tear?"
Does your house be "in a ree-raw?"
Do you find things shockin' "dear?"

And were you ever "real put out?"
Did you ever "notch a beam?"
If you're not a Newfoundlander
You don't know what I mean.
 

But times bring alterations
And soon we'll hear no more
The good old local phrases
As in the days of yore.

Still in my heart I'll treasure them,
They'll always seem to be
A precious part of Home Sweet Home
To simple folk like me.
 

Some of the above localisms require no explanation, but most of them
need to be defined in order to be understood.
 

I bound - I'll bet; sove up - saved; hard afrore - frozen stiff; most to rights -
almost ready; to straighten up means to settle one's account; dunch is
heavy bread and the word is also used to express how you feel if you sit
for a long time in the some place, "I sot there till I was dunch." Dout - put out;
a yafful - an armful or a bundle.
 

Graple is used instead of the correct word grapnel. A haul-off is a rope
used in mooring a boat, and a killock is similar to a grapnel except that it
is made of wood. A twillock is a child who is small for its age. Slewed around,
went to work and turned to are very common expressions and really mean
nothing except that they preface action of some kind. "I slewed around
(or went to work or turned to) and sawed off my wood." Took a spell means
took a rest.
 

Clever looking - This has nothing whatever to do with an intellectual look
. One could have a high forehead, a scholarly look and B.A.'s written all over
his face, but a Newfoundlander (I meanthe typical Newfoundlander) wouldn't
call him clever looking unless he had a good physique and a smart appearance.
Small people, no matter how attractive are never referred to as "clever looking."
One has to be big as well as well-built and handsome to gain this appellation.
 

The Bally ca'ters are the heavy pans of ice around the shore. Swotches are thin
spots in the ice. To get a h'ist (hoist) means to fall. Some people still say to the
youngsters (not kids) when it is slippery "Be careful now you don't fall down
and get a h'ist."
 

To keel out means to lie down when one is tired or exhausted. It is not just
lying down. To keel out one has to be really very tired or "fair wore out." A settle
is a built-in sofa. To lose one's spring means to be prevented from doing any
work (usually through illness) during the spring.
 

Can't glutch means can't stand. Glutch also means to believe - or swallow.
"I could hardly glutch that" means "I didn't quite believe it." Biddy O'Toole is
a local radio singer.
 

Swile - seal; toutons - buns or cakes made with pork fat and with tiny cubes of
fat pork in them. When made in flat square cakes they used to be called "bang-
bellies." However those are out of date now and it is only the old-timers who
talk of toutons and band-bellies. A duff is a pudding boiled in a cloth - or a
pudding bag. The duff is usually eaten with the meat and vegetables.
 

Scrunchin's - small cubes of fat pork fried crisp. The fat is thrown over the
dread and the scrunchin's mixed in.

To knock off is to stop work. 'Lev'ner and fourer are snacks at eleven o'clock
and four. A mug-up is a lunch at any time between meals, and a skoff usually
means pork and cabbage cooked at night (Night by the way is all the time
between dark and daylight). When a clock is "Random" it is extremely fast.
In a tear - in a hurry.
 

In a ree-raw - untidy. Real put out- very much annoyed. Notch a beam - If
someone does something unexpectedly, for instance if a small by washed himself
without having had to be told - or if someone fulfils a long-neglected duty or promise
another person will say "If I had an axe, I'd notch the beam.
 

It may not be out of place to conclude this glossary with a word or two on the
pronunciation of the word Newfoundland. I, for one, am not the least bit hazy
on it, and along with nine out of ten others pronounce it Noo f n'land with the
accent on the first and third syllables.