Sunday, August 31, 2008

August 31 – Sept 6 Word of the Week: Carey chicks

August 31 – Sept 6 Word of the Week: Carey chicks

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

Carey chicks

carey's chicken n also carey's chick, carey chick. Cp OED chicken 4: Mother Carey's chicken (1767-); DC Carey: Carey's chick (Nfld: 1953-); see also PALL CAREY for sense 1.

1 Variety of petrel, esp northern Leach's petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa).

[1937] 1940 DOYLE (ed) 11 "Two Jinkers": They went battin' Carey's chicks / And said that they were puffins.

1959 MCATEE 4 Carey chick—Leach's petrel. (Nfld, Que.) C 69-7 The kerry-chicken, which lives away out at sea, shows signs of a storm if it is seen near land. P 127-73 Carey chick is a small bird that walks on water.

2 In clipped form carey: in coastal features, esp shallow waters of an inshore fishing ground identified by the habitual presence of Leach's petrel.

1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 550 These include North Carey island ... and Bingham island... 2 2/3 miles north-eastward ... of Carey island. 1966 SCAMMELL 139 ~ [name] of fishing grounds [off Fogo Island]. Q 71-3 ~ shoal on a fishing ground [on the South Coast].

3 Cpd carey-church: large square lantern at the masthead of a fishing schooner, a lure to the seabird in foggy weather (P 90-69).

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our facebook group .

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

"tuckamoor" sighting: Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve Management Plan

MANAGEMENT PLAN
BURNT CAPE ECOLOGICAL RESERVE

Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 2000

"The primary purpose for setting aside Burnt Cape as an Ecological Reserve is protection of it*s unique flora. Two main vegetation communities predominate at Burnt Cape: limestone barrens and tuckamoor...

2. Tuckamoor
This term is used to refer to stunted tree growth which commonly occurs throughout coastal locations in Newfoundland (i.e. ravines, lower slopes and the base of cliffs provide the right microclimate). This wind-pruned vegetation type varies in height, from tens of centimeters, to 2 meter high trees of balsam fir and white spruce. In areas of greater soil moisture, black spruce replaces balsam fir as the dominant tree species.

On Burnt Cape tuckamoor accounts for 35 % of the vegetation cover. The species which occur are typical of tuckamoor found throughout insular Newfoundland (e.g. Abies balsamea f. hudsonia), Corn lily (Clintonia borealis), Creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula), Heart-leaved twayblade (Listera cordata), Starflower (Trientalis borealis) and Spinulose wood fern (Drytoperis spinulosa). Moss flora is a significant component of this community and includes the following forest floor mosses: red-stemmed moss (Pleurozium schreberi), knight*s plume (Ptilium crista-castrensis) stair-step moss (Hylocomium splendens), common hair-cap moss (Polytrichum commune), shaggy moss (Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus) and broom moss (Dicranium spp.)."

Read more from the Burnt Cape Management Plan here.

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The REDEFiNE iT word of the week is brought to you by the Newfoundland audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

"Tuckamore" sighting: Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland

Since 2001, the Tuckamore Festival has offered an inspiring and intensive chamber music program for emerging musicians in historic St. John's, Newfoundland. For two weeks, talented pianists and string players perform and attend numerous concerts as well as participate in workshops, open rehearsals, private lessons, coachings, and master classes.

Learn more about the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland.

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tuckamore is our word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (brought to you by Rattling Books).

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"tuckamore" also known as Krummholz which is what you find in Wikipedia

Krummholz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Krummholz or Krumholtz formation (from German: krumm, "crooked, bent, twisted"; and Holz, "wood", also Knieholz "knee timber") is a feature of
subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes, where continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds cause vegetation to become stunted and deformed.

The wind kills branches on the windward side, giving the tree a characteristic flag-like appearance. Where the lower portion of the tree is protected by snow cover, only the exposed upper portion have this appearance.

Common trees showing Krumholtz formation include Subalpine Fir, Subalpine Larch, Engelmann Spruce, Limber Pine, and Lodgepole Pine.

William Rogers Fisher introduced the English terms elfin-tree and elfin-wood to correspond to the German 'krummholz' in his 1903 translation of Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper's Plant-geography upon a physiological basis.[1]

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And the Dictionary of Newfoundland English records tuckamore as describing similarly wind pruned evergreens in Newfoundland.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

word of the week august 24-30: tuckamore

August 24 -30 Word of the Week

tuckamore

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

tuckamore

tuckamore n also tuckamil, tucken-more, tuckermel, tuckermill, tuckermore DC ~ Nfld (1895-). For tucken-more, see TUCKING BUSH and MORE n. See also TUCK2. (a) Small stunted evergreen tree with gnarled spreading roots, forming closely matted ground-cover on the barrens; also attrib; (b) collectively, low stunted vegetation; scrub.

1863 MORETON 31 Tucken-mores. Small low-grown shrubs and creeping plants.

1866 WILSON 37 In the hollows are the tuckermore bushes, which is a dwarf juniper, with strong branches at right angles to the stem, and closely interlacing each other: the tops of these bushes are level, as if they had been clipped. To walk upon these tuckermores, or penetrate their branches, is equally impracticable.

1868 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 9 The country is nearly level with scarcely any woods except occasional patches of tucking bushes (Tuckamores).

1891 PACKARD 84 Half-way down, as [the vale] widens out, [it becomes] choked with a stunted spruce and fir growth, or what the people call 'tucking,' or 'tuckermel-bush.'

1895 J A Folklore viii, 39 ~ , in some places tuckamil, a clump of spruce, growing almost flat on the ground and matted together, found on the barrens and bleak, exposed places. Ibid viii, 288 I drawed down to the tuckamores aside the pond and got twict thirty and varty yards from un. I lets drive and the loo' dove.

1919 GRENFELL2 229 He had gone through his snow racquets and actually lost the bows later, smashing them all up as he repeatedly fell through between logs and tree-trunks and 'tuckamore.'

1927 RULE 70 Travelling alongshore between Bonne Bay and Cow Head, I sometimes used the sloping surface of tuckermill as a couch to rest upon.

1970 Evening Telegram 21 May, p. 3 We proceeded as usual to the Witless Bay Line ... and from thence some 13 miles on foot in over the tuckamores. C 70-12 Tuckamore is a sort of low bush which grows in the marshes and in the small valleys. It is in the tuckamore that the path of a rabbit is most likely to be found.

1971 NOSEWORTHY 258 Tuckamoors or tuckamoor trees [are] low bushes on the barrens, about knee-high.

1981 Evening Telegram 17 Oct, p. 8 A good (and bad) cross-section of ptarmigan habitat (i.e. prostrate balsam, tuckamores, high plant or shrub cover, open tundra, rock exposures, marshes, etc).


Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.


We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group .

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Twillick sighting: Twillic Steady subregion: Central Newfoundland Forest

Twillick Steady subregion
Central Newfoundland Forest

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Twillick is the word of the week, here at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Brought to you by Rattling Books, an audio book publisher based in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Twillick tangent: Audubon's Twillick was a Tell-tale Tatler




Family
TELL-TALE GODWIT.--TELL-TALE TATLER.[Greater Yellowlegs.]
Genus
TOTANUS VOCIFERUS, Wils. [Tringa melanoleuca.]


It is my opinion that they who have given so much importance to the cry of this bird, as to believe it to be mainly instrumental in ensuring the safety of other species, and in particular of Ducks, have called in the aid of their imagination to increase the interest of what requires no such illustration. A person unacquainted with this Godwit would believe, on reading its history as recorded in books, that the safety of these birds depends on the friendly warning of their long-billed and long-tongued neighbour. And yet it is at no season more noisy or more vigilant than the Kildeer Plover, nor ever half so much so as the Semipalmated species, the reiterated vociferations of which are so annoying. It is true that the Tell-tale is quite loquacious enough; nay, you, reader, and I, may admit that it is a cunning and watchful bird, ever willing to admonish you or me, or any other person whom it may observe advancing towards it with no good intent, that it has all along watched us. But then, when one has observed the habits of this bird for a considerable time, in different situations, and when no other feathered creatures are in sight, he will be convinced that the Tell-tale merely intends by its cries to preserve itself, and not generously to warn others of their danger. So yon may safely banish from your mind the apprehension, which the reading of books may have caused, that duck-shooting in the marshes of our Middle Districts, is as hopeless a pursuit as "a wild goose chase."

Read the rest of Audubon's Account of the Greater Yellow-Legs or Twillick, here.


Twillick tangent: Nesting of the Greater Yellow-Legs in Newfoundland, an account from 1919

Nesting of the Greater Yellow-Legs in Newfoundland.
--On June 20, 1919, Mr. J. R. Whitaker and the writer had the satisfaction of discovering a female of this species ......

Read this account here.

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Greater Yellow-Legs are known in Newfoundland as Twillicks. Twillick is the word of the week here at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Brought to you by Rattling Books.

Twillick tangent: Joseph Beete Jukes (1811-1869) Exursions in and About Newfoundland During the Years 1839 and 1840

Jukes, Joseph Beete (1811 - 1869)
Birth:
1811, Birmingham, Warwick, England
Death:
29 July 1869, Dublin, Ireland
Cultural Heritage:
English
Occupation:
geologist
naturalist[details]-->
Life Summary
Resources

JUKES, JOSEPH BEETE (1811-1869), geologist, was born in Birmingham, England, the son of John and Sophia Jukes. Educated at Wolverhampton and King Edward's School, Birmingham, he studied geology under Professor Sedgwick at Cambridge (B.A., 1836). In 1839-40 Jukes was geological surveyor of Newfoundland and his Excursions In and About Newfoundland During the Years 1839 and 1840 (London, 1842) contained the fruits of this pioneering work.

Read the rest of this online Biography of Jukes here.

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Jukes is quoted in many an entry of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Including the entry for this week's word of the week, Twillick, wherein he is quoted as follows:

1842 JUKES i, 141 We shot a couple of 'twillecks,' a grey long-legged bird. about the size and shape of a plover, that frequents the shores of the lakes and arms of the sea.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

"Twillick" sighting: shot by Litehouseman on flickr

Twillick (Greater Yellow Legs)

These amusing shore birds are often referred to as "twillicks" in rural Newfoundland. Of course, they do indeed have long skinny yellow legs, which gives rise to the expression "she has legs like a twillick"!

You will have to go to this Flickr page by and see the beautiful photograph of a Twillick there by Litehouseman .

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The word of the week this week here at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is Twillick .

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Joel Thomas Hynes redefines the tar paper shack


Apparently it "only leaks when it rains".
Read Joel Thomas Hynes Blog here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Twillick sighting: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca )
also known in Newfoundland as the Twillick
(our word of the week)


To learn more about the Greater Yellowlegs, including what it sounds like, visit this fabulous bird site run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

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REDEFiNE iT's word of the week, tangents and sightings are brought to you by Rattling Books, the world's largest Newfoundland audio book publisher!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Word of the Week (August 17 - 23) twillick

Twillick

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

twillick n also twilleck, twillet, twillic, twillig, twillik, twillock. Cp OED twillock (Nfld: 1620) obs var of willock 'guillemot' (1631-); DC Nfld (1842-) for sense

1. 1 Greater yellow-legs (Totanus melanoleucus); occas lesser yellow-legs (T. flavipes), and other long-legged birds frequenting sea-shore and streams: plover, snipe; AUNTSARY1.

[1620] 1887 MASON 151 The Fowles are ... Teales, Twillockes, excellent wilde Ducks of diuers sorts and aboundance, rare and not to be found in Europe.

1842 JUKES i, 141 We shot a couple of 'twillecks,' a grey long-legged bird. about the size and shape of a plover, that frequents the shores of the lakes and arms of the sea.

1868 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 25 I spent my day looking around the place, caught some small trout and shot one twillick.

1870 Can Naturalist v, 295 Then they are a perfect nuisance to the sportsman, as they not only keep out of range themselves, but alarm every other bird by their incessant cry of 'twillick,' 'twillick'. . . Provincial names of this bird are 'twillick' [and] 'twillet.'

1907 MILLAIS 86 The greater yellowshank ... locally known as 'Twillik,' is very common in all the Newfoundland rivers during the summer and autumn.

1910 PRICHARD 59 Several flocks of yellow-shanks, locally known as 'twilligs,' haunted these flat shores in some numbers.

1951 PETERS & BURLEIGH 192 Greater Yellow-legs... Local Name: Twillick. Voice: A fast repeated whee-oodle, whee-oodle, or twil-ick, twil-ick... It is a verv noisy bird.

1959 MCATEE 27 Twillig. Semipalmated Plover. Ibid 28 Twillic. Common Snipe.

1964 JACKSON 14 'Twillicks' eat small fish and water insects. They used to be a game bird but are now protected. 2 Epithet for a fool; an inexperienced boy P 69-63 Don't be such a twillick! P 198-67 He's just a twillick (boy of eight years of age about to go trouting for the first time). C 69-9 Go away, you twillick (fool). P 79-73 The oldest child is real big, but the youngest is a real twillick.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

You can also visit REDEFiNE iT on our facebook group.

Word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

"tickle" sighting: Tickle Harbour, the Newfoundland band





A contemporary band with deep roots in Newfoundland's cultural heritage, Tickle Harbour is representative of the folk music revival in Newfoundland and Labrador. Indeed, like Figgy Duff before them, Tickle Harbour's songs resonate with the musical heritage of the first European settlers from Ireland and England. In existence since 1980, Tickle Harbour has released three albums, The Hare's Ears, Brule Boys In Paris and Battery Included.


To learn more about Tickle Harbour visit this Heritage Website.
******************The REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English word of the week, tangents and sightings are brought to you by Rattling Books, an audio book publisher based on the eastern edge of North America in Newfoundland. So small, we're fine.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

"tickle" sighting: The Tickle Inn at Cape Onion, Newfoundland




The Tickle Inn at Cape Onion is a typical old Newfoundland outport home that has been designated a Registered Heritage Structure. It has been attractively restored to near it's original state by David, a fourth generation member of the original Adams family. The ocean is "at the doorstep" in Cape Onion, a picturesque cove at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. This bed & breakfast is surrounded by 9 acres of incredibly beautiful meadows and hills that provide great opportunities for beachcombing, hiking or taking leisurely strolls through the meadows.


Cape Onion is an ideal base for day trips to L"anse aux Meadows to experience Viking history and to St. Anthony to learn more about the amazing humanitarian work of the medical missionary, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell. Be sure to also plan time to see other highlights of the area including a boat trip to experience the northern waters and marine attractions (whales, icebergs); a trip to Burnt Cape botanical ecological reserve; drives through picturesque rural communities; visits to craft and carving shops, and hikes and walks on spectacular scenic trails. To find out more about the Tickle Inn or plan a stay there visit them here.


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The REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English word of the week, tangents and sightings are brought to you by Rattling Books, an audio book publisher based on the eastern edge of North America in Newfoundland. So small, we're fine.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

"tickle" sighting: Black Tickle, Labrador

(N.B. This week's word of the week is "Tickle")

The Community of Black Tickle is located on the Island of Ponds in a cove called Salmon Bight. On the other side of the Bight is the Community of Domino. Both Communties share resources such a medical, schooling and airport. Today the community is still dependent upon the fishery as its primary source of employment, but instead of cod, the current resource is snow crab. These two communities have no road connection to the outside and are therefore dependent upon coastal boats during the summer and year round air servcie.

History: The community of Black Tickle was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by a group of British seamen who had jumped ship. In 1865 Captin Hood reported on the population and fishing catches from Battle Harbour to Red Island in Labrador and on of largest establishments of that time was Black Tickle.

Population: 229

Surnames: Dyson, Holwell, Hudson, Keefe, Lane, Morris, Neville, Parsons, Roberts, and Turnbull. To learn more about the town of Black Tickle visit them here.

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The REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English word of the week, tangents and sightings are brought to you by Rattling Books, an audio book publisher based on the eastern edge of North America in Newfoundland. So small, we're fine.

Monday, August 11, 2008

"tickle" sighting: The Dark Tickle Company

(This week's word of the week is "Tickle")


The Dark Tickle Company is located in Griquet, on the Great Northern Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland, Canada. We manufacture jams, sauces, vinegars, teas, drinks and chocolates from unique wild berries. These berries, picked by hand, are carefully processed without additives resulting in a quality product that is both distinctive and delicious.



A 'tickle' is a narrow channel of water, which in our case is dark due to its surrounding high hills. It is also the area in Griquet where we are located and as represented by the picture in our labels.

To check out the Dark Tickle Company and their products visit them here.

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The REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English word of the week, tangents and sightings are brought to you by Rattling Books, an audio book publisher based on the eastern edge of North America in Newfoundland. So small, we're fine.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

August 10-17 Word of the Week: tickle

August 10-17 Word of the Week: tickle

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

Tickle

tickle n OED ~ sb1 Nfld 'narrow difficult strait' (1770-); DC 1 a, b esp Nfld (1770-); see SEARY 141-2; cp TICKLE a. A narrow salt-water strait, as in an entrance to a harbour or between islands or other land masses, often difficult or treacherous to navigate because of narrowness, tides, etc; a 'settlement' adjoining such a passage; also attrib. Cp REACH, RUN n.

[1770] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 64 There is a narrow tickle of twenty yards in width, between this island and the continent; across which a net is fixed, to stop the seals from passing through.

[1770] 1971 SEARY 141 Tickle, in the form Tickles, is first cited in OED in Cook and Lane 1770 [1775] B, repeated in Lane 1773, for a locality at the head of St Mary's Bay.

1792 PULLING MS Aug, p. 29 He had been out in his boat a few weeks before, and rowing through a tickle not far from the cove, he saw a canoe of Indians coming through another tickle and nearly meeting him.

1812 BUCHAN MS 17 July I proceeded thro' the Ladle tickle for New bay and return'd again by dark, from Wards island to the head of New bay must be twenty miles. On the 14th I set out for Halls bay by way of Pretty tickle passage, this is form'd by the Tritons and the projecting heads of Bajer and Seal bay, and the Mainland from the latter to Halls bay.

1837 BLUNT 29 This harbor is very secure, with good anchorage in any part, above the Harbor Rock; it has two Tickles, so called, in Newfoundland, and intended to describe narrow passages between islands and rocks.

1842 JUKES ii, 31 What the origin of this word Tickle may be I am at a loss to conjecture; but it is applied all over Newfoundland to a narrow passage or strait between two islands, or other points of land.

[1870] 1973 KELLY 27 The Captain, seeing that we were in a little difficulty in getting under weigh in the narrow Tickle, kindly sent his men for this purpose.

1876 HOWLEY 19 The word Tickle appears to refer to a narrow channel between two or more islands, or between islands and the mainland, through which the tide runs with considerable force.

1907 DUNCAN 142 'Twas wild enough, wind and sea, beyond the tickle rocks.

1920 GRENFELL & SPALDING 13 We have turned into a 'tickle,' and around the bend ahead of us are a handful of tiny whitewashed cottages clinging to the sides of the rocky shore.

1940 SCAMMELL 9 "The Squid Jiggin' Ground": There's men from the harbour; there's men from the tickle.

1947 TANNER 285 As has been said the tides are of no great size at the Atlantic coast, but they are sufficient to produce strong tidal currents in the archipelagos and channels of different orders: runs, tickles and rattles.

1951 Nfld & Lab Pilot i, 143 [The two islands] are separated from the eastern side of Long island by narrow channels, passable only by boats, and on the shores of which stands a township known as the Tickles. T 50/1-64 There's only a notch comin' in through, you know, when you comes to the tickle, an' if a stranger didn't know nothing about it he'd be liable to run the lighthouse close, see. Ibid An' she got in a tide rip when she got in the shoal tickle in Lewisporte, an' they had like to make a big mess of it. Down she had like to go.

1968 SCHULL 85-6 Nearly four thousand men of the city and the outports, the Tickles and the Guts and the Reaches and the Coves of Newfoundland, were bound to the age-old rendezvous of the ships and the moving ice.

Supplement: tickle n

[1976] 1985 LEHR & BEST (eds) 55 "The Ella M. Rudolph": At five o'clock in the evening through the Tickles she did pass/The threatening of a violent storm was showing by the glass. 1987 FIZZARD 210 'We come in to make Green Island and even if it was very thick we'd have to steer across to Pass Island and there were times I went through that tickle and you'd have a job to see both sides at the same time.'

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.We also invite you to visit the REDEFiNE iT facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

"Rawny" according to the online Urban Dictionary

rawny

(according to the online Urban Dictionary)

Another way of saying horny, combines with the word rawr(suggesting something to sexual)
Are you rawny?
Want to fool around?

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The REDEFiNE iT word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English and tangents thereof brought to you by Rattling Books, the world's largest Tors Cove, Newfoundland based audio book publisher!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival kicks off tonight

Really good music'
JUSTIN BRAKE
The Telegram

The Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival kicks off tonight boasting one of its most diverse lineups ever. It's part of the "Folkies Without Borders" theme organizers chose to celebrate the relationship and ancestry folk shares with other forms of roots music.

"We want to make sure we represent the living traditions," explains Newfound-land and Labrador Folk Arts Council chairwoman Anita Best, who had a hand in selecting this year's performers."It's not just a dead culture we have," she says. "It's a culture everyone's participating in."

With that, the festival will feature performances by artists from an array of musical backgrounds, including Sylvia Tyson, Andy Irvine, Roy Johnstone, blues act The Roger Howse Band, local reggae-ska outfit The Idlers, and a special reunion performance by legendary Newfoundland ensemble Figgy Duff.

"We went with what we thought would be a good mix," explains Best.

...

Newfoundland troubadour Ron Hynes, who will perform on the main stage tonight, began his career around the same time the folk festival started and shares Andrews' sentiment on the event.

"The folk festival is so important to us because we have a longer history of original and traditional music," he says, explaining the uniqueness of folk music in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"It stems from local storytelling, poets in small towns all around the island and in Labrador who wrote songs about things that happened in their communities," he continues. "(The songs) weren't written to be published ... they were written to define who the people were.

Read the rest of this article here.

Weekend passes for the 32nd Annual Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival are $60 for adults and $40 for students and youth. Day passes are $25 and $15 respectively and session passes are $15 and $10.For more information visit www.nlfolk.com.

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Thursday, August 7, 2008

Rawny tangent: Radio Association of Western New York


Our word of the week (rawny) is sighted in Western New York!
RAWNY
The Radio Association of Western New York, often called RAWNY, was formed in 1917. It is believed to be the second oldest amateur radio group in the United States and is considered to be a general interest club encompassing all aspects of amateur radio.

RAWNY became affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), a national organization of amateur radio operators, in 1920.
Amateur radio activities were ended by government decree when World War II started. Once hostilities ended and the government ban was lifted, amateur radio was reborn. It was then that several hams decided to "give life" again to the Radio Association of Western New York. RAWNY has been active ever since. RAWNY was incorporated with the state of New York in 1955.

It fostered the formation of two-meter activity and financed a group within the club to promote the same. Eventually this group became BARRA (http://barra.hamgate.net), the Buffalo Amateur Radio Repeater Association, and like RAWNY, one of the five sponsors of what was once HAM-O-RAMA (the WNY ham radio/computer flea market).
At present and since 1980, RAWNY has been engaged in bringing Amateur Radio to the public through many demonstrations at the Buffalo Naval and Servicemen's Park. Our group has set up many special event stations including field day aboard the U.S.S. Little Rock, where the public can view Amateur Radio in operation. The station is a memorial to the late Clara Reger, W2RUF.
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REDEFiNE iT's word of the week is brought to you by Rattling Books, the Newfoundland based audio book publisher.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

rawny sighting: cattle breeding in Maine, 1873

A word here to those who argue that there is no real difference in animals, — that the feed makes all the difference, and that the prices obtained, are the result of deception by the breeder or vender. Now suppose you select the most vigorous pair of Kerry, Hereford, Holstein, Short-horn, Devon or Jersey cattle, and place them in the hands of the most skillful breeder, upon the most luxuriant feed for five years. Have you changed their general characteristics ? Do they not retain their original character ? Again, select a pure native cow, small, mean, rawny, crooked and ugly ; breed her to a first-class thoroughbred bull. The result is a half blood grade ; being bred to another thoroughbred, you get a three-fourths grade ; another cross, and you have
a seven-eighths grade, and so on. Have you not, during this process, lost nearly all the distinctive features of the native cow ? Would not this stock sell in any market, for from fifty to seventy-five per cent. more than the original stock ? If so, why this assertion reflecting upon the integrity of the breeder, and a thrust at improvement? If this whole system of scientific breeding is aswindle, what a vast multitude are being swindled, and have been, for the last century, by paying from $1,000 to $50,000 for horses, from $1,000 to $40,000 for cattle, from $50 to $1,500 for sheep, from $100 to $500 for swine, and from $25 to $200 per trio for fowl.

Read the rest of the report.

rawny sighting: The Dialect of West Somerset

Excerpt from the English Dialect Society's 1875 guide to West Somerset vernacular, available here.

RHINY [hruynee], adj. i. Thin; lean; hungry-looking. Jennings and Williams spell this rawny. Fat her ! a rhiny old thing, her've a-zeed too many Zindays, I b'lieve ; I count mid so well try to fat a yurdle. Said of a cow.

2. Miserly ; near ; close-fisted ; too stingy to be clean. Proper rhiny old fuller, 'tis a waeth aiteenpence to get a shillin out o' ee. The slouen and the careles man, the roinish nothing nice, To lodge in chamber comely deckt, are seldom suffred twice. — Tusser, 102, v. I.

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Word of the Week is brought to you, as always, by Rattling Books.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

"rawny" tangent: from Mary Dalton's Merrybegot

The Tangler

From the word go it was a thankee job –
We all knew –
But that tangler came pretty near to
Fooling up the whole works,
Blathering to this one and that one –
The foreman had like to
Flatten him –
A fierce little red-headed bantam,
Rearing out the big ones,
Ready to board
That tongue-flapping long-shanks,
That rawny ghost of a gommil.



Mary Dalton's Merrybegot, performed by Anita Best (narration and song) and Patrick Boyle (trumpet and flugelhorn) is available from Rattling Books.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

August 3 - 9 Word of the Week: rawny

August 3 - 9 Word of the Week

rawny

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
rawny a EDD ~ adj
1 'thin,' 2 'of cloth, thin' So; DINNEEN ránaidhe 'thin'; JOYCE 311.

1 Thin, gaunt, bony (1937 DEVINE 39).

207-467 I never saw such a rawny horse. 1968 DILLON 151 He was a big rawney-boned fella.

2 Of cloth, flimsy, threadbare.

P 113-56 His coat must have been cheap. It became rawny after only one winter.

P 245-61 His shirt cuffs are rawny (frayed).

P 184-67 That material is rawny. 1979 'Twas a way of life 45 If the [sweater] was poorly done, comment was passed on it, 'Some rawny! You could shoot gulls through that!'

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

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The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.