Newfoundland 2025: The People

Are Newfoundlanders Okay With Being Called Newfy ?

From the headland hike at Chirpon, NL. - Photo by Tom T Traywick

When I first visited Newfoundland in 2012, that trip was limited to the west coast from Port aux Basques to Rocky Harbour, Port au Choix, and L’Anse aux Meadows. For this third trip I devoted much of my time to the west coast before departing Newfoundland on the ferry for Labrador.

Earlier in this trip I wrote about my iceberg hunting on Twillingate and Fogo Islands. After that I drove in the rain back through Deer Lake to Rocky Harbour for several nights at Gros Morne RV Park in Rocky Harbour — not changed much since my visit in 2012.

From Rocky Harbour I drove in the rain to Cow Head for groceries and on to the Viking RV Park at Chirpon, NL, at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula only 5 minutes from Leif’s Camp, the UNESCO World Heritage Site at L’Anse aux Meadows. I love that part of Newfoundland, so much that I stayed there for 8 nights and explored from Cook’s Harbour to Goose Cove. The largest town is St. Anthony and the best town is St. Lunaire-Griquet. No need to go to St Anthony except you must go through there to get to Goose Cove — and they have a good grocery store.

Lobster Bisque at the Daily Catch in St Lunaire-Griquet - Photo by Tom T Traywick

I looked around L’Anse aux Meadows for two days and visited with staff. There is a feel there, a sense of timeless unity with all mankind. And a wealth of information about the discovery and the archeological examination of the site but, there is not much new there since 2012 except changes in staff and the addition of six EV Charging Stations.

---

I never met a Newfoundlander that I didn’t like, and that rubs off on me. I have always said that they are so glad to see you — greeting you with “Good day!” as “my love” or “my buddy.”

So what about all those people that are always so glad to see you.

In Deer Lake on the way to Fogo I inquired at the Esso Fuel Station about local mechanics. Several referrals later I arrived at O’Brien’s Mechanical talking to Sean and Jake O’Brien. The eyes blue-grey, the hair strawberry blonde, and they walk fast on sea legs. They hooked up computers to my chassis and rolled around in the parking lot dirt under my rig calling me “my buddy,” and a couple of hours, a trip to the parts store, and not many dollars later I was fixed. And I felt like a member of the O’Brien family, and they gave me local information that was useful on the road over to Gander. I didn’t ask them if they were okay with being called a Newfy.

I did ask that of a Newfoundlander Marine Mechanic at L’Anse au Clair in Labrador at the end of the Labrador Ferry. Jonathan helped me replace the Main breaker of my rig when it blew on a Saturday morning in the cold rain. He replied that any who are not Okay with being called a Newfie are not proud enough of their background. After several hours that day across the street from the Home Hdwe walking fast in the rain (on sea legs,) we had solved problems together and I loved him like a brother.

Wade Hillier at The Daily Catch - Photo by Tom T Traywick

Wade Hillier I met when he played acoustic guitar and squeezebox at The Daily Catch in St. Lunaire-Griquet on an evening soon after my arrival. I learned that although he plays the Newfoundland folk anthem (Sonny’s Dream) and others by Ron Hynes, he really is a country music fan and does John Cash (voice and guitar) more correctly than John ever did. I tried to interest him in Ian Tyson (Summer Wages) and others in the crowd really worked on him for some Gordon Lightfoot. But to no avail — “Sonny’s Dream” and “Ring of Fire” and, regrettably, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” was what we got in the end. Wade is a good performer and a really good musician.

Wade answered that he was neutral, and did not consider the use of Newfy as a slur or derogatory, but that you must consider that it is like calling someone from the southern mountains a “hillbilly.”

I am going to go with the answers of both Johnathan and Wade. But I will refer to them as Newfoundlanders.

Agil the Norseman in his longhouse at L’Anse aux Meadows, as interpreted by Wade Hillier - Photo by Tom T Traywick

Wade retired from his Norseman gig of 26 years the day after this photo was taken — joked that he was returning to Greenland. I didn’t ask him his plans. Maybe he’ll come for a gig in the Southern Mountains, or in Austin or Nashville.

Agil and wife Anora in their longhouse at L’Anse aux Meadows - Photo by Tom T Traywick

Alec, Jaime (Anora), and Grace Roberts in the office at Viking RV Park.

I have always tended to take on some of the speech characteristics of the folks that I’m talking with. When I spoke on the phone with a woman at Viking RV Park about making reservations she asked “How many nights will you be staying?” I hadn’t decided yet and replied “It depends on how much I love you.”

She replied “Then you’ll never leave.”

She assigned me Site 19. I stayed 8 nights. It was easy to see that it was the nicest site in the park. She turned out to be Grace Roberts. The four Roberts siblings own and operate Viking RV Park and their niece Jaime drops by for breakfast on her days off from L’Anse aux Meadows. The kitchen there is never idle producing 8 AM breakfast, pies and pastries, bread, jam, Moose jerky, etc.

---

Although they may differ on the acceptability of “Newfy,” they all are proud of their distinctive manner of speaking, which is much more pronounced on the West Coast. I have written elsewhere that if you happen upon a conversation between Newfoundlanders, you will not understand more than the occasional word.

A reference to Haiti is likely not to a neighbor of Puerto Rico, but to a neighbor of “ninety’ or “a hunnert.”

I asked Lloyd at Rocky Harbour of a larger grocery store nearby and he said there is one 30 minutes north at “Cihwhid.”

“Cihwhid?”

“Yes Cihwhid.”

I was not about to ask how to spell it — according to my map, the town 30 minutes north of Rocky Harbour is Cow Head — “Cihwhid.”

They are proud of their way of speaking, just as I am of mine. I wish that I could return and talk with them on a regular basis.