With Grenfell on the LabradorWaldo, Fullerton L. (Fullerton Leonard)
History
With Grenfell on the Labrador
Waldo, Fullerton L. (Fullerton Leonard)
Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir, 1865-1940
French names have been Anglicized in strange ways. Isle aux Bois thus
becomes Isle of Boys—or, as pronounced on the south coast, Oil of Boys
or Oil o’ Boy. Baie de Boules has lost the significance of boulders that
bestud its shores in the name Bay Bulls. The famous and dreaded Cape
Race, near the spot where the beautiful _Forizel_ was lost, gets its
name from the French “razé,” signifying “sheer.” Reucontre is Round
Counter; Cinq Isles has become St. Keels, and Peignoir is altered to
Pinware or Pinyare. Grand Bruit is Grand Brute; the rocky headland of
Blomidon that nobly commands the mouth of the Humber is commonly called
Blow-me-down; Roche Blanche is Rose Blanche.
One would scarcely recognize Lance-au-Diable in Nancy Jobble. Bay
d’Espoir has been turned into its exact antithesis, in the shape of Bay
Despair. L’Argent Bay is now Bay Le John. Out of Point Enrage is evolved
Point Rosy, and St. Croix is modified to Sancroze (Sankrose).
Children’s names are likely to be Biblical. They are often called by the
middle name as well—William James, Henry George, Albert Edward.
Merchants’ ledgers must take account of a vast number of nicknames that
are often slight variants on the same name—Yankee Peter, Foxy Peter,
Togo Ben, Sailor Ben, Bucky Ben, Big Tom, Deaf Tom, Young Tom, Big Jan,
Little Jan, Susy’s Jan, Ripple Jan, Happy Jack. Thomas Cluett comes to
be called Tommy Fiddler, whereupon all the children become Fiddlers, and
the wife is Mrs. Fiddler. The family of Maynards is known as the Miners.
The little boys have a mischievous way of teasing one another as “bay
noddies.” The noddy is a stupid fish that is very good at catching the
smaller fry and then easily allows itself to be robbed of its prey. The
children cry:
“Bay boy, bay boy, come to your supper,
Two cods’ heads and a lump o’ butter.”
We find the children using instead of “Eeny, meeny, miny, mo” this
formula:
“Hiram, Jiram, bumbo lock
Six knives in a clock;
Six pins turning wins.
Dibby, dabby, o-u-t spells out.”
Or:
“Little man driving cattle
Don’t you hear his money rattle?
One, two, sky blue,
Out goes y-o-u.”
Or:
“Silver lock, silver key,
Touch, go run away!”
Or:
“Eetle, ottle, blue bottle,
Eetle, ottle, out!”
Still another is:
“Onery, ury, ickery, Ann,
Fillissy, follissy, Nicholas John,
Kubee, Kowbee, Irish Mary
They throw marbles against a wall for a sort of carom-shot, and call it
“bazzin’ marbles.” “The real precursor of the spring, like the sure
mating of the birds,” said an old man of the game.
In some places there is a local celebrity with a real talent for the
composition of what are known as “come-all-ye’s,” from the fact that the
minstrel is supposed to invite all who will to come and hear him chant
his lay. Every big storm or shipwreck is supposed to be commemorated in
appropriate verse by the laureate. For instance, one of these ballads
begins:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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