Salt of the Earth

"Don't you consider that word derogatory?"

It was years ago when I was asked that question. I sat in an apartment in Lake Louise and was just telling a newfie joke when my Ontario friend asked me about the use of the term itself. I thought about it for a second, looked at him, and said, "No. That is what I am."

I was so wrong. I was so, so wrong. I was guilty of classifying my self and my people into a stereotype.

We are different people, my friends, but we are by no means a stereotype. Let me explain. Here you go, and may you enjoy.

I stood in a bar a couple of summers ago, on a humid evening in downtown Halifax, and watched an Irish band sing and dance. The lead singer had a deep resonating voice that carried me away back into childhood days of cutting a jig and rug under my feet. Then it dawned on me.

I knew him.

It had been over a decade ago since we last met, and that had been during our high school days in St. John's. His name was Arthur O'Brien and his band was called The Navigators. After his set was over, I walked up to say hello, and then we stepped out for a drink.

I started talking about home and how I missed it; of how it had been over ten years since I last laid eyes on her rugged and welcoming coast. I mentioned the term "newfie" in passing and Arthur stopped and contemplated my words. Then he spoke and I will never forget what he said.

"We are Newfoundlanders...we are not "newfies". That was a term created in the early seventies when a wave of us emigrated off the rock in search of work; in search of ways in which to feed us; in search of ways to feed our own. For the most part, we landed in Ontario, and if you were to take all the first generation Newfoundlanders out of that province and return them home, well; you would over-populate the island."

"Unfortunately, for some reason, we were looked down upon by everyone outside our island...maybe it was our accent or dialect, maybe it was for our dry humour and ability to take a joke. But, for some reason, that moniker stuck with us and has haunted us ever since. People who have never even placed so much as a toe in Newfoundland feel they have the right to call us by that slanderous name...but they are so wrong in thinking that way."

I have never used that word ever since that day and I have made it a solemn oath to correct anyone who does use it. It is not racist per se but it does hold racist undertones for me. It is an ignorant stereotype used by people who are either too lazy or too daft to properly express their thoughts in words. It is improper to refer to my people in that manner; even though my people occasionally use it to refer to themselves.
Newfoundlanders are the salt of the earth, my friends: we are gregarious, we are gracious, and we are ever so grateful. Did you know that there was a Newfoundlander with Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address? Did you know that Cabot Tower on Signal Hill in St. John's was the origin of the first transatlantic wireless message? Did you know that a Newfoundlander invented the gasmask? Or that the first successful, non-stop, transatlantic air voyage left from Newfoundland? Or that Newfoundland was the first to respond to the Titanic distress call?
We are known worldwide on the basis of our bravery on one tragic day in July 1st, 1916, during World War I. We are especially known worldwide for our hospitality and welcoming ways, as shown after September 11, 2001, when all planes were grounded and Newfoundlanders opened their doors and offered our homes as places of rest for those without a place to lay their head.

I spent this past summer in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, the origin of the Continental Drift Theory, and stayed in a boarding room with a lovely family. One day, after a long day of writing and prepping for a morning hike, I came home and found my dinner: bologna and potatoes. I laughed. My host looked at me and said, "Well, come on now...we are newfies."
I didn't say anything that day because he was right, but technically wrong in his use of description: yes, we are; but no, we are not because we are Newfoundlanders first and foremost. We are not a label, we are not a stereotype, and we are most definitely not the laughing stock of Canada...although if you listen to its jokes about us you would believe it to be true.

We have an amazing sense of self, my friends, because we are able to laugh at our selves; we have clarity in our words because our words hold truth and value; we have substance because that is what we come from: salt of the earth. We have character that is moulded from our upbringing and our value in morals and ethics.

We welcome all visitors like family. We are Newfoundlanders.

So, go ahead, tell us a joke about Newfoundlanders: I guarantee you we have heard them all. If by chance, we laugh, then go ahead, tell some more. But, please understand, we are a proud people, and pride can only take so much nescience. When this happens to me, I always leave the best joke for last: What is black and blue and floats in the harbour? It is a mainlander after telling too many newfie jokes. Har-dee-har-har-har. Until we meet again, my friends, until we meet again.

"Humour is an affirmation of God's dignity, a declaration to man's superiority to all that befalls him."- Romain Cary