Re: CHAT: Newfs (was: Getting into the intro game)

--- In conlang@y..., Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@J...>
wrote:
> On Tue, 14 May 2002 18:22:26 -0400 Stephen DeGrace
> <stevedegrace@Y...> writes:
>
> > > > I'm a Newf, eh b'y :P
>
> > b'y, we wasn't catching any mainland fish, only
the
>
> > Stephen :)
> -
>
> So what's this "b'y" that they seem to say in
Newfoundland?

It's just "boy", sound shifted to something like
/baj/. All the vowels in Newfoundland English sound
shifted to me - somehow "flatter". I wish I knew more
linguistics so I could describe better what I'm
hearing. But I love Newfoundland dialect. Anyway,
"b'y" us a standard for of address, it's familiar but
you can use it with anyone, you can call your
grandmother "b'y". It's written that way as a cute
trick to suggest both its etymology and pronounciation
by more careful writers (less careful would just use
"by").

My feeling is that rather than saying something about
the person addressed, it says something about the
person using the word - that they are a "b'y", even if
they're a girl :). Avoiding the term and others and
using an imported dialect, either Britsh in the old
days or Canadian now, I think denotes education (which
is respected), class/formality (which inspires mixed
feelings - the lower class person would "b'y" more
than the higher class one) or uppitiness (which is not
respected :P). What I've heard from university
educated Newfoundlanders reminds me of what I have
read about some bilingual situations, like for example
in Paraguay, where you have a dominant language, in
that case Spanish, which is favoured for business, and
a second language, in that case a native language,
which is favoured for personal stuff. Slipping into a
more Newfinese register automatically makes the
discourse more personal and less formal, I think I
have observed (it was hardly a scientific study but
that is my impression).

> Btw, when i started getting involved with the Ill
Bethisad conuniverse, i
> claimed Newfoundland and part of Labrador as the
Judeo-Spanish nation of
> Mueva Sefarad (="New Spain"), a part of the North
American League.
> You can see a map of the area at:
>
http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~bh11744/judajca/area-map.jpg
> Mueva Sefarad, Nunavik, and New Scotland are parts
of the NAL (also known
> as the SLC), while Nouvelle France is its own
completely independent
> nation.
> A prettier and more close-up map but without labels
and sea-borders is
> at:
>
http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~bh11744/judajca/ms-closf.jpg

Hey, cool! :) I notice you put the capital around
Corner Brook - western Newfoundlanders would
definitely agree with your choice, the climate is
better up that way than in St. John's :). I've often
commented that the colonial capital faces the wrong
way, it faces towards the old imperial capital in
London rather than the new imperial capital in Ottawa
:P.

> At the beginning of the past summer, a friend of
mine's mother let him
> borrow her car when she and his father went on a
vacation.  So him, me,
> and my brother wanted to go on a roadtrip.  He
wanted to go to Disneyland
> or Disneyworld, my brother wanted to go to Detroit,
and i wanted to go to
> Newfoundland.  (we're from the New York City area).
Unfortunately, we
> ended up going no farther away than Hershey,
Pennsylvania.  :-P

Heh :). Well, if you like natural beauty, you'll love
Newfoundland if you ever get a chance to go up there,
NF has it in spades. There's not a part of the island
I wouldn't like to see. And in my opinion, St. John's
is a totally fun town, a real blast, and a very unique
character, I don't think there's anything quite like
it anywhere :). When I was up for a visit in February,
we went out clubbing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday nights, and it was good each time... not bad
for a town that size :). It even has a gay bar, which
suits me :), although these days the straight
clientele is rather large :P. Anyway, NF is not
everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's great.

Stephen

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