Sunday, January 25, 2009

Word of the Week (January 25- February 1): spudgel

Word of the Week: January 25- February 1


spudgel


Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:


spudgel n also spudget*, spudgin*, spudgy* [phonetics unavailable]. EDD ~ sb 1 'a wooden bowl with a long handle used for bailing' Gl IW Do So; DC Nfld (1775, 1937) for sense 1.


1 Small wooden bucket with a long handle, used to bail water from a deep-keeled boat; PIGGIN.


[1775] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 73 The boat proved so leaky, that the spudgel was scarce ever out of hand.


1792 ibid Gloss i, xv ~ A small bucket fixed to the end of a pole, to throw the water out of a boat, which has no pump.


1897 J A Folklore x, 210 ~ a small bucket used for dipping the water out of the dill and bailing their boats.


[c1900] 1978 RLS 8, p. 26 ~ a boat bailer consisting of a bucket with a long handle through it.


1937 DEVINE 47 Spudgell. A bailing bucket. It is different from a piggin in being tub shaped and having a long handle—somewhat like a corn-cob pipe.


1951 Nfld & Lab Pilot i, 208 Otter Rub point, with Spudgell cove close north-eastward of it, lies 1¼ miles east-northeastward of the entrance to Pays cove; Spudgell Cove rocks extend three-quarters of a cable southward. P 102-60 If a man was a bit of a cooper [he would go] to the coopershop and make piggins and spudgils out of pork barrel staves. The difference between a piggin and a spudgil: one was about 10 or 12 inches high with one stave about 5 or 6 inches longer than the others to use as a handle; the spudgil was about the same size but through the handle stave was bored a hole about one inch in size through which was passed a round stick from the top and fastened to the bottom and about 4 or 5 feet long so as the man using it did not have to stoop down to bail out water from the dill in the after part of the boat. T 43/7-64 A piggin got the handle attached, an' the spudgel is the one with [the handle] on an angle. T 90-64 The spudgel [is] the little tub with a long stick in it for the larger boats, to throw the water over the gunnel.


1971 NOSEWORTHY 248 ~, spudgin, spudgy. A ten-pound tub with a long wooden handle, 5 or 6 ft. long, nailed on. It is used for bailing out deep, keeled boats. P 209-73 Spuggal. A large wooden container with a long handle used to bail water from a boat.


1975 BUTLER 38-9 1 had two big long-handled spudgels aboard. I said 'Jack, here, take one of those and,' I said, 'if you ever worked in your life, work now, if you don't want to drown.'


2 Metal or wooden container with a long handle, often larger than a boat bailer, used to dip water from a well, hot bark in the tanning of nets, and for other purposes. T 14/19-64 You'll take your spudgel and you'll dip out your tan out of the boiler and throw it on your twine and let it remain there all night. T 94/5-64 An' in the summer when [the well would] go a bit low they'd have a spudgel, a big can on a wooden machine they made—a long stick went right through from side to side so it wouldn't come off-and you'd fill up your buckets with that. C 71-103 The kind of spudgel that was used to draw water from a well consisted of a large can and a long wooden handle [that] went through a hole in the side and on down to the bottom.


1973 BARBOUR 51-2 ~ It is made of wood, shaped like a bucket, and has a long handle which goes through the bucket slantwise, or, as a fisherman would say, 'scow ways.' At Blanc Sablon the spudgel was used to dip water from over the side of the wharf in order to wash down the troughs and wharf. In lots of places the spudgel is used mainly to dip fresh water from deep wells.


1979 TIZZARD 55 This water was usually drawn up or taken from the well by a spudgel, a small tub or can made fast to the end of a long pole.


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

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Word of the Week (January 18 - 24) black

black

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

black n
See also BLACK a. Roman Catholic term for a Protestant; freq in phr brazen as a black, saucy as a black, etc. P 245-56 ~ term of opprobrium applied by Roman Catholics to Protestants, but sometimes now used humorously rather than insultingly. P 52-62 Brazen as the black: used in reference to a saucy person. 1964 Evening Telegram 4 May, p. 7 Some of the young ones though is as saucy as blacks. M 65-1 It is common to refer to Protestants as blacks and the Roman Catholics as micks. C 66-4 The younger generation call all Protestants blacks.

black n
1985 JOHNSTON 101 Whenever it started raining, Dola would say, 'Here comes a bath for de blacks.' Her way of saying that it had been raining for some time was, 'De Prodestins must be down to last year's dirt by now.' 1985 Nfld LifeStyle 3 (1), p. 26 'You're marrying one of them Mainlanders and he's a black, too?' black a DC ~ ice 1 for sense 1; EDD ~ a 5 'extreme' Sh I Ir, JOYCE 215 ~ man 'surly, vindictive, implacable fellow,' for senses 2, 3; NID ~ fish 2, DC ~ fly (1821-) for sense 4; DAE ~ spruce (1765-) for sense 5; Fisheries of U S, p. 176 ~ ball, OED ~ book 5 (1842), O Sup2 ~ man 2 (1591- Nfld: 1969), EDD sb 1 for combs. in sense 6.

1 Of ice, thin and newly-formed on river, lake or sea; cp YOUNG: young ice. 1909 BERNIER 7 Black ice is thin dark looking ice with no snow on it; usually found between pans of older ice. At night or at a distance looks like open water. 1920 GRENFELL & SPALDING 143 The ice in the middle, however, which had looked so sure from the landwash, proved to be 'black'-that is, very, very thin, though being salt-water ice, it was elastic. 1924 ENGLAND 160 We was to de nardenmost flags, on de far end o' where we knocked off yesterday. I got out on de black stuff, sir, meself, an' den cut back agin. 1933 MERRICK 21 The river was covered with new black ice. Slewing around a bend, the komatik went through and they all fell in. P 245-67 Black ice [is] thin ice.

2 In designations of Protestants (cp BLACK n): atrocious, disliked (as belonging to an opposing or conflicting group); in phr black stranger: not of or 'belonging to' a community. 1892 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 4 Poor Petrie died last month. He was a jolly whitty Irishman from the Black North. 1930 BARNES 229 If I wasn't praying at a time like that, I'd be swearing. Now, mind, I hope nobody that reads this will think I'm a black blackguard. P 148-63 Black wop (bayman). 1966 PADDOCK 121 Black Protestant: derogatory name for Protestant. 1972 Evening Telegram 29 Feb, p. 3 Some of those rural districts are so small in population that everybody knows everybody else and the electorate would rather go for a black stranger any day than one of their own blackguarding neighbors. 1974 CAHILL 10 We [Roman Catholics] might have changed and got broadminded, but they're still as bad as ever they were, the black bastards!

3 Touchy; moody; dangerously quarrelsome or pugnacious. 1964 Can Journ Ling x, 45 He's some black! 1966 FARIS 245-6 Men are, very significantly, said to be 'getting black' if they become personal and serious in their argument. Any real quarrel between persons is labelled 'black' and to be avoided in Cat Harbour at all costs. 1975 Lore & Language ii (3), p. 16 Looked black, he was always black you know, but he looked a little blacker this morning.

4 In names of animals, birds, fish, insects with black colouring: ~ and white diver; ~ back; ~ bawk [see BAWK]; blackbird; ~ cap; ~ diver; ~ fish; ~ fly; ~ hagdown [see HAGDOWN]; ~ patch. 1959 MCATEE 15 Black and white diver. Barrow's goldeneye (Nfld., 'Labr.') 1792 CARTWRIGHT Gloss 1, xi Harp. An old seal of that kind called by Pennant, 'Blackback.' 1861 DE BOILIEU 92-3 The principal seal of the coast is termed the Voyage Seal, while the males are distinctively called Harps, or Blackbacks. 1925 Dial Notes v, 326 Black back, a harp seal in the fourth year. 1951 PETERS & BURLEIGH 53 Sooty Shearwater. Puffinus griseus. Local Names: Black Bawk, Hagdown, Hag. 1840 GOSSE 96 The American Robin is a species of thrush. In Newfoundland, where it is very common, it is always called the Blackbird. 1959 MCATEE 32 Black-cap. Knot (The crown is dark streaked) (Nfld). 1708 OLDMIXON 14 A great Flock of small black Divers, about the bigness of a Feldyfare, came about the Ship a little before, but all of'em left it, and betook themselves to the Island [of ice]. [1775] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 74 John Hayes, the boatsmaster, killed four ducks, a goose, a black-diver and a lord. 1959 MCATEE 18 Black diver. Black Scoter (Nfld). 1846 TOCQUE 71 Great numbers of what some call Black-fish, and others Pot-heads, are killed during the month of September along the shores of Newfoundland. 1964 Evening Telegram 19 Feb, p. 2 Among fishermen there is a widespread opinion that the 'black-fish' or pothead whale, which is slaughtered in large numbers for mink meat, is a very stupid animal. [1822] 1915 HOWLEY 137 Myriads of moschetos, with black and sand flies, annoyed us. 1872 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 5 I have had my eyes almost closed many a time, and streams of blood coursing down my neck and face and clotting my beard and moustache, caused by the black fly. The torment was all but unendurable. 1975 HOLMES 41 Twenty-three species of black flies have been recorded near St John's, and of these Simulium venustum Say and S. vittatus Zetterstedt are the commonest species that bite man. 1883 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 4 With these Hagdowns are several of a rusty black colour, only the under parts of the wings being of a dirty white... The fishermen call them Black Hagdown... This is probably the Sooty Shearwater. 1967 Bk of Nfld iii, 282 Black Bawk or Black Hag-down. [1766] 1971 BANKS 146 The Furrs taken here are Black Patch [etc] [Black Patch is a colour phase of the Red Fox]. 5 In names of plants and shrubs: blackberry [see BLACKBERRY]; ~ hurt [see HURT]; ~ pear; ~ spruce; ~ whort [see HURT]. 1956 ROULEAU 26 Black Hurts: Gaylussacia baccata. 1898 J A Folklore xi, 226 Black pear. Pyrus arbutifolia. 1967 BEARNS 44 Because of its high wood density, black spruce is the most valuable pulpwood species in the Province. 1898 J A Folklore xi, 273 Black whorts. Gaylussacia (sp).

6 Comb black (art) book: book believed to contain secrets enabling a person to perform supernatural acts. C 68-40 People believed [him] to have a black-art book or to be possessed with the Devil. He could tell you your fortune just by looking into your hand. C 68-16 The black book is supposed to be a book given by the devil to someone who has given himself over to the devil. In it is information or knowledge of how to do things which ordinary men cannot do.

black ball: marker attached to trawl buoy for identification. 1921 Nat Geog July, p. 13 [caption:] Flying sets on the Bank / the dories are being towed by the schooner. The black disks are 'highflyers,' or 'black balls,' which are affixed to the buoys attached to the fishing lines, as markers. 1938 MACDERMOTT 170 The trawl is ... attached to a buoy which is known as a black ball, and which marks the place where the trawl is set. The black ball is a keg strapped with rope, and with a stick as stout as a shovel handle, from four to six feet long, passed through it; the stick bears a hooped canvas about eighteen inches in diameter on which is marked the dory's number. C 71-87 ~ This flag was homemade from calico, with a hoop sewed around the edge of it. it was then painted and the number of the dory was written on it so that each fisherman would be able to keep track of his own buoys.

black boy: (a) man with blackened face, hands and clothing, accompanying Christmas mummers; (b) charred tree remaining after a forest fire: also black-burn, blacky-boy. P 133-58 ~ , black burn: a stick of wood that has been seared in a forest fire. 1965 Evening Telegram 24 Dec The blackboys, so called because of their blackened hands and faces, were dressed in black clothes and tall hats and carried a staff. It was traditional that the blackboys should be well ahead of the mummers, for the mummers would have to try and catch them (which they always did), and having caught, would throw them in the snow and maul them about. C 70-15 Trees which had been burned over in a forest fire were much in demand [for firewood] because they were partly dry. However they were very sooty and called blacky-boys.

black jack: (a) variety of molasses from West Indies; (b) type of felt or tar paper used for waterproofing, insulation, etc. 1909 BROWNE 81 One firm did an extensive trade in 'Black Jack' (St Kitts' molasses). P 148-64 [The] roof [is] covered with black jack. 1971 NOSEWORTHY 174 ~ Black felt for placing on roofs and [in] fish boxes to hold the water. black man: a figure invoked to terrify children into good behaviour; the devil (P 148-60). T 301-66 They would say when children were naughty, 'Here's the bully-boo' or 'a black man.' 1961 Christmas Mumming in Nfld 138 The archetype stranger, the Devil, is the 'Black Man' or 'Blackie.'

black-man's bread, ~ cap: possibly harmful mushroom; FAIRY CAP (P 148-61). Q 67-25 Black-man's caps [are] mushrooms. 1971 NOSEWORTHY 174 Black-man's bread: inedible mushrooms.

black psalm: text thought to have sinister power. M 68-17 She believed that she could put a curse on anyone by reading a certain psalm, 'the black psalm,' she called it, 'on' the person she wished to curse. The number of the psalm was secret to her.

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 brought to you each week by Rattling Books and released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Word of the Week (January 11-17): scuddling

Word of the Week: January 11 - 17

scuddling

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

scuddling vbl n Comb scuddling hole: hole at stern of boat through which oar is worked to steer or propel craft (Q 67-33); SCORE-HOLE, SCULLING HOLE. scuddling oar, scuddle ~ : scull; SCULLING OAR. 0 67-1 Scuddle oar—the oar used to steer the punt with. One person sits or stands in the stern of the punt and steers it with a scuddle oar. P 209-73 ~ an oar used to propel a punt through a hole in the stern.

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

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

We also invite you to visit our sister Facebook group.

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

Friday, January 2, 2009

Revisiting Last Year's New Year's Resolutions: Don McKay

This time last year Rattling Books ran a New Year's Resolution Contest here at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

Among the winners was this one from Don McKay.

January 2nd and your head still feels like a waddock that's been bashed up and down the field by size thirteen spaugs, and no wonder, you're after being a slinger randying all Christmas, guzzling the screech and stuffing your gob, telling your old cuffers filled with all that pishogue, how you were forever grassing in the bawn like the rawny merrybegot you are, how you'd marl up the droke with a joke and a bottle and all the girls waiting to kiss you in the drung behind the church hall, way back when you were but a lewardly nuzzle tripe of a angishore before the blue drop got in your blood and you were out jiggering for cod with the bawks and guds whirling overhead, the gillies, turrs and tickleaces skimming the surface, the swiles sculling and diving, now here you are so hung over you can hardly stand to shive the goowiddy off your fousty face, yes my son, you say to the boo in the mirror, you've been a jeezly seeny-sawny long enough, it's time for a whole yaffle of resolutions, if only you could figure out where to start.

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Don McKay is a poet whose most recent book Strike/Slip was awarded the Griffin Prize. In 2008 he selected and read poems of his on the themes of birds, birding and flight which he recorded with Rattling Books. The result was Songs for the Songs of Birds.

Most recently Don McKay has been honoured by the Government of Canada as a new member of the Order of Canada.