"vang" tangent: sailing terminology

Boom vangs allow vertical adjustment of the boom. Tensioning the vang tightens the leech of the sail. Cruising sailors use the vang to keep the boom from rising downwind, while racing sailors use the vang as a primary shaping device for the main.

If you're in the market for a completely inedible vang for your Boom check out Harken Rigging Tips.

*******************************

This tangent brought to you by Rattling Books, proud sponsor of REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English!

cross-handed (word of the week) sighting: the Cross-handed Bed, a poem by Mary Dalton

The Cross-handed Bed

She was a bit of a woman -
A waist like a wasp when I married her,
But strong - no one could beat her for work -
Six loaves every day and the
Wash out on the line
Before the sun rose on the water.
She sang like the wren.
Up at the window when our boat came in.
She welcomed
Each youngster that came,
But the ninth tore her open -
Now she's in the ground
Our old four-poster's all reefs and sunkers
And I'm bound out for Wareham's
In search of a cross-handed bed.

******************************

This poem by Mary Dalton is found in her collection entitled Merrybegot, one of the main sources of inspiration for this Blog.

Merrybegot, the audio edition from Rattling Books, is performed by Anita Best and Patrick Boyle.

"Cross-handed" sighting: Amber Music Website

Cross-handed is an album by Newfoundland traditional singer Anita Best

from the Amber Music website:

Accapella songs of twelve Newfoundland ballads, beautifully sung by Newfoundland's foremost interpreter of traditional songs. Presented unadorned, as Anita learned then in the oral tradition, these songs represent the life's blood of a vanishing breed. A rare, calm, and graceful album.

"Slob" sighting: George Allan England's Vikings of the Ice

excerpted from the Google Book Search version of George Allan England's "Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great Newfoundland seal hunt," Vikings of the Ice:

The harps cling to land as much as possible, if they can manage to escape heavy ice during the early part of their voyaging. They keep a quarter to half a mile at sea, and are called "inshore" seals; but if any danger or obstacle threatens, they beat away promptly from land. At this stage they are lazy and love to bask. But the ice is always at their heels--their "scutters," rather. On the southern way they hunt and fish, till ousted by the "slob" or new ice.

*************

Vikings of the Ice is due to be published as an unabridged audiobook in 2008 by Rattling Books.

"Slob" sighting: Wilfred Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan

excerpted from the Project Gutenberg version of Wilfred Grenfell's harrowing tale of survival in northern Newfoundland:

All went well till I was about a quarter of a mile from the landing-point. Then the wind suddenly fell, and I noticed that I was travelling over loose "sish," which was like porridge and probably many feet deep. By stabbing down, I could drive my whip-handle through the thin coating of young ice that was floating on it. The sish ice consists of the tiny fragments where the large pans have been pounding together on the heaving sea, like the stones of Freya's grinding mill.

So quickly did the wind now come off shore, and so quickly did the packed "slob," relieved of the wind pressure, "run abroad," that already I could not see one pan larger than ten feet square; moreover, the ice was loosening so rapidly that I saw[8] that retreat was absolutely impossible. Neither was there any way to get off the little pan I was surveying from.

There was not a moment to lose. I tore off my oilskins, threw myself on my hands and knees by the side of the komatik to give a larger base to hold, and shouted to my team to go ahead for the shore. Before we had gone twenty yards, the dogs got frightened, hesitated for a moment, and the komatik instantly sank into the slob. It was necessary then for the dogs to pull much harder, so that they now began to sink in also...

*************

Adrift on an Ice Pan is available as an unabridged audiobook from rattlingbooks.com.

"sish" sighting: Urban Dictionary

Sish, according to the Urban Dictionary

1.
sish

the sucking sound with your tongue against the roof of your mouth, that is the sound of exasperation.
sishing and sighing.

2.
sish

sish is a word for a womens vigina juice (such as a womens semin out ov her vigina)

"sish" sighting: Sighting #1 in Vikings of the Ice by George Allan England

"An' even if ye falls troo," added Uncle Tucker, the carpenter, "dat don't matter. Ye can go on workin' ahl day, an' no harm. Y'r clothes soon freezes, an' kipps ye wahym on de inside of 'em. An' at night ye thaw out by de bogey, till de steam comes out, an' ye're ahl rate. I know lots o' fellers fall in on purpose, to get a glutch o' rum."

"An' de laysses' [least] little piece o' sish [thin ice] is enough to copy [jump] on," Stirge assured me. "Dat is, sir, if you'm annyways spry!"

an excerpt from Vikings of the Ice, being the log of a Tenderfoot on the Great Newfoundland Seal Hunt, by George Allan England, originally published in 1924.

****************

photo: 25.01.017 S.S. Adventure with sealers on ice, post-1905
from The Geography Collection
Coll - 137
Arranged and Described by Linda White and Claire Jamieson
Archives and Manuscripts Division, Memorial University of Newfoundland
September 1999

Each week Rattling Books explores a "word of the week" from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English here at the REDEFiNE iT Blog and also on the original facebook group .

"pelt" sighting: Seals & Sealing Network

Both harp and ringed seals are "hair seals" which depend on their blubber as their main defence against the cold. Their pelts therefore have no underfur, and are comprised entirely of short, shiny guard hairs.
The result is what is called "flat" fur, of which hair seal fur is the longest wearing of all, much more durable than calf or antelope, for example.

Flat fur is not as warm as a "true" fur like mink, which has underfur. However, its high oil content helps repels rain, and its structure resists wind, while its porosity allows it to breathe.

Read more here.

"pelt" sighting: Live Pelt, by Kelly Heaton, a multimedia installation based on the transformation of 64 Tickle Me Elmo dolls

The art of Kelly Heaton exists in that place where obsession, engineering and popular culture come together. -- George Fifield for the catalogue of the 2001 DeCordova Annual Exhibition

Live Pelt, by Kelly Heaton, is a multimedia installation based on the transformation of 64 previously owned Tickle Me Elmo dolls, the popular consumer toy, into a woman’s coat. Fashioned from the toys’ pelts and electronics, the coat (entitled The Surrogate) provides full body vibration and is designed to be a substitute lover. Using Elmo as a vector to channel information about contemporary American culture, the installation encompasses moods both poignant and Frankenstein weird. The narrative investigates frontier economics, the human-machine relationship, and the technologist’s power to play with life. In all seriousness, Heaton’s sense of humor prevails.

The artist has developed eight characters to represent the various facets of Live Pelt. Desecration and fetishism are consistent throughout the narrative, which relies heavily on the historic precedent of the American fur trade. The Trapper collects Elmos through eBay; The Industrialist performs the skinning; and The Taxidermist stuffs and mounts their heads. The Alchemist solders the electronic viscera and seeks clues to the mystery of life. Other characters, The Sociopath, The Debutante, and The Fashionista, interact with the coat and its accessories at various stages in The Surrogate’s development. Btsy Rss alters the American flag to the tune of De-Star Spangled Banner, a painfully slow rendition of our national anthem performed by Pamela Z. Heaton plays some of these roles in a documentary video by Shambhavi Kaul.

Read more about Live Pelt here.

"pelt" sighting: on a blog about writing

...and your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts, and the yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry...


A Place for Strangers and Beggars
Where story tellers and friends hang out

"pelt" sighting: Charlie Brown's Lucy Van Pelt

Lucy Van Pelt works hard at being bossy, crabby and selfish. She is loud and yells a lot. Her smiles and motives are rarely pure. She's a know-it-all who dispenses advice whether you want it or not--and for Charlie Brown, there's a charge.

********************************************

Redefine iT is brought to you by Rattling Books.

"pelt" sighting: price of seal pelts down

N.L. tannery operator says seal pelts selling for about half of last year's cost

Mon, 2008-04-07 18:01.
By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

CATALINA, N.L. - Seal hunters can expect to pocket about $33 for a top-grade pelt this year - about half the price it would have fetched last year, a Newfoundland seal product processor said Monday.

Dion Dakins, sales director for NuTan Furs Inc., said the revival of a grading system is to blame for the drop.

In 2007, without the grading system, sealers were getting $62 per pelt . The year before, competition among buyers saw prices spike at $105.

Read the rest of this article here.

Doater sighting: Will and Testament Richard Burberry of Brockham 1824

Will and Testament Richard Burberry of Brockham 1824
I give unto Mary my doater the sum of four hundred pounds. I give unto Ann my doater the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. I give unto James my son the sum of one hundred pounds. I give unto Hetty my doater the sum of one hundred pounds and all the remainder of my estate over and above hereinbefore mentioned shall be equally
divided between my five children hereinbefore mentioned that is to say Thomas Mary Ann James and Hetty but if there should be losses by bad debts so as it should not amount to the same before mentioned then and in that case my five children shall share and share alike in the loss and my will is that my children shall be accountable for all book debts and notes of hand and all agreements of any kind the same as then and now I hereby nominate constitute and appoint John Hoe Junior of Brighton and Thomas Uwins Junior at Brockham joint Executors of this my last Will and Testament and I give them five pounds each and all reasonable expenses paid them hereby revoking and making void all other wills by me at any time heretofore by me made declaring this and only this to be my last Will and Testament in witness whereof I have thereunto set my hand and seal this six day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. ....

Dotard Sighting: urban dictionary

1.
dotard

When you are in the midst of your "dotage" meaning that you are in the midst of your mental decline. i.e. you're in the process of becoming a fucking idiot.

Read more dotard definitions from the Urban Dictionary. Sad to say none of them include Harbour Seal.

Dotard Sighting: Harbour Seals in Newfoundland

The Whale Release and Stranding Group Website

Harbour seal: 1.5 meters; 95 kilograms

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina concolor) have a small round head that makes them look like a dog in the water. They are constantly on the lookout and pop up and down, staying submerged for about 20 minutes. If not frightened they often reappear with a fish or crustacean in their mouth. The harbour seal has a variety of coat colours ranging from a bluish grey to brown or tan, usually interspersed with brown blotches. Its belly is silvery white. They are found in Chance Cove Provincial Park on the southern Avalon, and may be seen anywhere around the island, especially in areas where fresh water rivers run into the sea.

Read more about other seals and marine mammals frequenting the waters off Newfoundland.

The Harbour Seal is our favourite dotard.

Dotard Sighting: Distribution of the Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina

"The origin for the name "doter" or "dotard" for older seals is not known."

from:

Distribution of the Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, in Canadian Arctic Waters
Arthur W. Mansfield
Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 48, No. 2 (May, 1967), pp. 249-257
doi:10.2307/1378028
This article consists of 9 page(s). View Article Abstract

Bedlamer Sighting: A Blog from a ketch named Bedlamer sailing to Newfoundland

Hi, I'm Kier, son of Stephen and Gwendolyn Knudsen the proprietors of The Dark Tickle Company. My wife Anastasia and I have been living in Portland Oregon for the past six years. She as a cardiac nurse, and me as an Aerospace Engineer. We both share strong ties to home so presented with an opportunity to work in the family business, we sold our house, packed up our things, and U-Hauled it back to Newfoundland. After stuffing our worldly belongings in the old family store and spending Christmas with family, we headed off to Riviera Beach, Florida. There we met our 36 foot ketch 'Bedlamer' (formerly 'Gala II') which we shipped from Olympia, Washington. Our intent is to sail her home and arrive in our hometown sometime in September. 3700 nautical miles. This is our story....

Bedlamer Sighting: Bedlamer Head, Eastport

View a topographic map showing the location of Bedlamer Head in Eastport, Newfoundland and discover an online tool for cruising the world by topo sheet.

Penquin sighting: Audubon's Great Auk

Illustration and notes from John James Audubon (1785-1851)

Family XLIV. ALCINAE. AUKS.

GENUS II. ALCA, Linn. AUK.

"...When I was in Labrador, many of the fishermen assured me that the "Penguin," as they name this bird, breeds on a low rocky island to the south-east of Newfoundland, where they destroy great numbers of the young for bait; but as this intelligence came to me when the season was too far advanced, I had no opportunity of ascertaining its accuracy. ..."

Read the rest of Audubon's notes on the original penquin.

Monty Python sketch:

Penguins

TV Announcer:
That was episode two of "The Death of Mary, Queen of Scots", adapted radio by Bernard Hollowood and Brian London. And now, Radio 4 will explode.

Music
(The radio explodes
Two old women are sitting on the couch listening to the radio when it explodes. One looks at the other.)

First Old Women (Graham Chapman):We'll have to watch the telly then.

Second Old Women (John Cleese):Yes.

First Old Women:Well, what's on the television then?

Second Old Women: It looks like a penguin.
(On the TV set there is indeed a penguin. It sits contentedly looking at them in a stuffed sort of way. There is nothing on the screen.)

First Old Women:No, no, no, I didn't mean what was on the television set, I meant what programme?

Second Old Women:Oh.

(The Second Old Women goes to the TV, switches it on and returns to her chair. The set takes a long time to warm up and produce a picture. During this pause the following conversation takes place.)