Blah blah blah Newfoundland. Blah blah blah Newfoundland. Newfoundland Newfoundland blah blah blah Newfoundland. Newfoundland Newfoundland Newfoundland Newfoundland NEWFOUNDLAND. Alright already. I get it. Just once I’d like to have a conversation without that word in it. Don’t get me wrong – I have visited and LOVED Newfoundland. I am also from another province, where I truly loved growing up, but I don’t fucking harp on it. If it’s so much better in Newfoundland than go the fuck home.
—Happy Wherever I Roam
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.
What’s this? An “if you don’t like it then leave” bitch written by a non-Nova Scotian, to a non-Nova Scotian, about Nova Scotia? Now I really don’t know which side to take. Why don’t you BOTH go back to wherever you came from and stop confusing me.
well if it is there hometown i can see them missing it for sure, there prob just homesick
ahh Newfoundland how art I miss thee.
Sorry, us Newfoundlanders can’t help that we are from the best place on earth. Don’t get me wrong, I moved to Halifax 11 months ago and love it, and I’m glad I came here, but that’s because I’m younger than 40 and wanted a decent paying office job, which I wasn’t finding at home. Either way, NS and NL are like two totally different worlds.
You have to admit though, at some point it DOES get a bit annoying.
I don’t know what it is, but pretty much the only people I find go on like this are people from NL. A lot of people from NL left because they had to, not because they wanted to, so I guess I can see why they’d go on about it. Probably the same situation with the Maritimes in places like Ont and AB where a lot of us are forced to go to for work.
So, perhaps with the improving economy in NL a lot of these people who miss it/didn’t want to leave can go back?
NL’s greatest export: that’s exactly what I meant — a lot of people move to find better opportunities elsewhere. I know I am next spring when I move to Toronto after I finish school.
Honestly if Nova Scotia had George Street, better campgrounds, and my parents, I would prefer it to Newfoundland. Oh, and you seriously need to start selling beer in corner stores and gas stations, what the hell is up with that?
The way I see it is, you gotta be from someplace, and you may as well be proud of it.
Having said that, let me dispose of one category of people right away – the ones that were *born* someplace, lived there until the age of 2 or 4, have never lived there since, and still in their 30’s or 40’s or 50’s insist that their roots lie where they were born. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way – as far as I am concerned where you went to school (for starters) has a hell of a lot more to do with where you’re from.
As for Newfoundland in particular, I’ve lived there. Spent a year on Gower Street, and Pennywell Road, in St John’s. Nice place, good atmosphere. However, George Street (where I spent way too much of my time) is like any other street in any other city that happens to be packed with bars, a small minority of Newfoundlanders actually go gravel-pit camping, most of them don’t go out every year to shoot a moose, the majority of Newfoundlanders have never had fish and brewis or scruncheons (and wouldn’t like it if they did), kitchen parties with fiddles and sea shanties are about as rare there as they are here…you get the drift. In short, your average urban Newfoundlander is virtually indistinguishable from your average Haligonian or Dartmouthian, and ironically a lot of Newfoundlanders don’t even have accents that us Bluenosers can make out as being different.
I put on the Nova Scotian BS too when I visit Ontario or BC. That’s mostly all it is – BS.
Hear hear! I get so sick of Newfs harping about fuckin’ Sin Jahn’s and how much BETTER it is all the time.
It’s one thing to love your city, but the constant disparagement of your “new” city in comparison is irritating.
I have often wondered “if it’s so fucking great, why does everyone leave (yeah, I know, jobs. But a great city has jobs, because people want to be there and create jobs.)
When I ask people to describe what’s so great about it, all they EVER come up with is George St. That’s the ONLY thing I’ve ever heard a Newf articulate clearly about what is so wonderful. George St., George St., George St. Fucking drunks.
Oh, and people are “friendly” (I think there’s a big difference between friendly and ingratiating / obsequious, but whatever), and “funny” (I disagree wholeheartedly; smarmy, smart-ass chatterboxes that you can’t have a real conversation with are GRATING, not funny).
Don’t go home, but just shut up, OK?
Laughing out loud while biting my tongue… The OP could pick some better friends.
Maybe your friend is just homesick and it makes them feel better to talk about thier home province. I’m sure it’s irritating as fuck but try to have a little sympathy, maybe pop by the grocery store and buy them a pack of Jam Jam’s or Tea-Vee’s. They can’t talk while they’re chewing.
Amen to the beer at corner stores…
You know how Newfieland was created? Cape Bretoners throwing rocks at seagulls.
Lord tunderin! The OP should fuck right off something wicked eh?!
Bye, Jezz, Tom buoy, yer spot on.
Out of all the people I’ve encountered from NFL, and worked with a whole bunch…I have enjoyed the company of these folks. It’s not me me me me.
You lose.
I know this one guy from st john’s and HOLY FUCK he’s probably the coolest mother fucker out there. The St John’s accent is just the icing on the cake of awesomeness. Frig.
Know what I hate? As someone who was born in Labrador, I get bundled in with those marble-mouthed meatheads.
Heh, friend of mine is from Lab too and ALWAYS makes sure to distinguish herself from NLers 😛
First of all it’s “b’y” not “bye.” That drives me nuts.
I was born and raised in a small town in NL and moved to Halifax about 2-3 years ago. I like NS as a province but I hate Halifax. I can’t help it. Its nothing against this particular city, I just don’t like cities. I didn’t like like St. John’s either. One thing about NL that I do miss is the people. I’m not saying Nova Scotians aren’t nice but Newfies are just a whole other level. They’re so laid back but at the same time so passionate. That probably makes no sense but there is no other way to explain it. If you’ve been to NL, you know what I’m talking about. Also I miss the air. I don’t know what it is about the air in NL but as soon as the plane lands or the boat docks and I’m back on the island, the air just seems better.
As for the OP’s friend… give it some time. I still miss home (yes, it will always be home to me) like a bitch but I’ve stopped talking about it so much.