NEWFIE SLANG FILES

YOU MIGHT NEED A TRANSLATOR, B’Y.


Welcome to the Newfie Slang Files.
If you’ve ever heard someone from Newfoundland talking and thought, “What the fu*k did they just say?” you’re in the right place.
Newfoundland has its own way of talking. Words, expressions, sayings, nicknames and little phrases that can mean something completely different depending on who said it, how they said it and whether there was a kitchen party happening at the time.
Some of these words have been passed down through generations. Some are old. Some are still used every day and some are so Newfoundland that explaining them to someone from away somehow makes them sound even stranger.


This is Newfoundland as heard through the 709 Frequency.

B'Y

Probably one of the most recognizable Newfoundland words.
B’y is commonly used as a friendly way of addressing someone basically boy, buddy, man or my friend, depending on the situation. It can mean:
“Hey, buddy.”
Or:
“What the hell are you doing?”
Or sometimes simply:
“B’Y.”
You know the tone.

DEY / DE / DERE

Newfoundland speech has its own rhythm.
Dey = there.
De = the.
Dere = there.
The spelling you see written online isn't necessarily how everyone spells it, either. Newfoundland accents and expressions vary from community to community, so there isn't one single way everybody talks.

WHERE YA AT?

IT DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN WHERE YOU ARE.
“Where ya at?” can simply mean:
“How are you doing?”
“What are you up to?”
“Where have you been?”
Or literally:
“Where are you?”
Context is everything.
And if someone hasn't seen you in six months?
You better have an explanation.

WHAT ARE YA AT?

THE UNIVERSAL NEWFOUNDLAND QUESTION.
“What are ya at?”
Can mean:
What are you doing?
What are you up to?
What's going on?
What kind of trouble are you getting into?
Why the fuck did you do that?
It's all about the delivery.

SCUFF

A MESS. A SCRATCH. A LITTLE DAMAGE.
“There's a scuff on it.”
“Don't scuff the floor.”
Depending on the context, a scuff can mean a mark, scrape or bit of damage.
Nothing catastrophic.
Probably.

SQUARE

“GIVE 'ER A SQUARE.”
A Newfoundland expression that can refer to a fair share or portion of something.
And if someone says you're square, context matters because Newfoundland expressions have a habit of changing meaning depending on the sentence.
That's part of the fun.

SOME GOOD

JESUS, B’Y. THAT WAS SOME GOOD.
Something impressive.
Something enjoyable.
Something worth talking about.
“Some good” can describe food, music, a party, a night out, a story or basically anything that deserves approval.
It's not just good.
It's some good.

RIGHT ON

AGREEMENT. APPROVAL. GOOD VIBES.
“Right on.”
A simple Newfoundland classic.
It can mean:
Sounds good.
Absolutely.
I agree.
Fair enough.
Let's do it.
Sometimes two words are all you need.

LONG MAY YOUR BIG JIB DRAW

A NEWFOUNDLAND WAY OF SAYING:
“Good luck.”
“Take care.”
“Hope things go well.”
It's an old Newfoundland expression with strong ties to the island's seafaring culture.
Basically:
May your sails catch plenty of wind.
And may you keep moving forward.

STAY WHERE YOU'RE AT

NO, SERIOUSLY. DON'T MOVE.
“Stay where you're at.”
Usually means:
Don't move.
I'll come to you.
Wait right there.
It sounds simple.
But somehow it feels very Newfoundland.

SCREECH

YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OF THIS ONE.
Newfoundland's famous Screech is part of the province's cultural identity and has become associated with Newfoundland hospitality, folklore and the famous Screech-In tradition.
The phrase “getting screeched in” has become one of the best known Newfoundland cultural experiences.
But there's a lot more to Newfoundland culture than Screech.
There's music.
There's language.
There's stories.
There's food.
There's family.
There's the ocean.
There's the people.
There's home.

NEWFIE

YES, WE KNOW THE WORD.
Newfie is commonly used informally to refer to a person from Newfoundland.
Some people embrace the word.
Some people don't.
Like pretty much everything connected to Newfoundland identity, context matters.
Around here, we're interested in the culture behind the word the humour, the history, the accent, the music, the memories and the people who made Newfoundland what it is.

FROM AWAY

EVERY NEWFOUNDLANDER KNOWS.
Someone who isn't from Newfoundland.
“They're from away.”
And if you've ever left Newfoundland for somewhere else, you might have eventually realized something:
You can leave Newfoundland.
But Newfoundland doesn't exactly leave you.
The accent.
The stories.
The sayings.
The food.
The music.
The memories.
The way home sounds.
It follows you.

JESUS B'Y

IT CAN MEAN ALMOST ANYTHING.
Surprise.
Frustration.
Excitement.
Disbelief.
Amusement.
Shock.
Confusion.
You could probably build an entire language around “Jesus, b’y.”
And the meaning would still depend entirely on how you said it.

NEWFOUNDLAND, AS HEARD THROUGH THE 709 FREQUENCY.
FILE STATUS: OPEN
FREQUENCY: 709
LOCATION: NEWFOUNDLAND
SIGNAL: ACTIVE

THE 709 FILES
SLANG.
STORIES.
MUSIC.
TRADITIONS.
FOLKLORE.
MEMORIES.
HOME.

THE FREQUENCY FILE

Newfoundland has always been a place where stories travel.
From kitchen tables to wharves.
From fishing stages to dance floors.
From grandparents to grandchildren.
From one generation to the next.
Some words disappear.
Some change.
Some come back.
And some never fucking leave.
That's what makes language interesting.
It's alive.
It changes with us.
And The 709 Files is my little corner of the internet to document some of it.
Not as a perfect dictionary.
Not as a tourism brochure.
Just Newfoundland through my own frequency.

NEWFOUNDLAND LANGUAGE IS MORE THAN WORDS

The Newfoundland way of speaking isn't just about vocabulary.
It's the rhythm.
The accent.
The storytelling.
The sarcasm.
The exaggeration.
The pauses.
The way a story somehow gets longer every time it's told.
It's someone telling you something that happened twenty years ago like it happened yesterday.
It's a kitchen full of people talking over each other.
It's your buddy saying:
“B’y, you'll never believe what happened.”
And you already know you're about to hear a story.