Over at Geist there’s a little Canadian phrasebook that has quite a few phrases unique to (or at least popular in) Cape Breton. Not all of the entries are accurate (as far as I know, a dozen beer is called a case in Cape Breton, not a dozen—but then again, I haven’t had a drink in seven years), but the letters from readers are certainly entertaining and bring up a lot of interesting features of the language as it is spoken in good ol’ CB (and some of these are not exclusive to CB). Some notable examples:
—When you’re pushing someone on a swing and you push them really hard and run under them before they come back down, we call it an underduck.
—Many corner stores do indeed have the word dairy in their names.
—A crybaby is called a sook, which rhymes with book. A reader mentions that in Ontario a crybaby is called a suck, which sounded silly when a colleague from Ontario said it a few years back and sounds just as silly now.
—In CB a dresser is called a dresser, but we also call it a bureau.
—Dinner in Cape Breton is not supper but lunch. When I was a kid, I’d go home for dinner and then go back to school, then play and be home in time for supper.
—’Fill your boots’ means ‘go for it’. I believe it’s also in common use in Newfoundland.
—Use of the word right as a synonym for really or very, as in ‘I’m right tired’ or ‘It’s right cold outside’. Even though I don’t use a lot of Cape Breton slang when talking to Malaysians, this one comes to me so naturally that it often finds its way into my speech. I didn’t even know this was a Cape Breton thing until a Mormon missionary from California who was converting the Cape Breton heathens brought it up one day and said he’d never heard it until he arrived in CB. I was right surprised.
—Fuckin’ rights! Excuse my French. Basically, where some other Canadians might say ‘Fuckin’ right’ as a statement of strong agreement, Capers will add the ’s’ to right and make it rights. Not sure why. Anyway, for those of you who don’t like the dreaded F-word, a good (and common) alternative is friggin’ rights.
—Puck as a verb meaning ‘hit’, as in ‘Buddy was getting lippy so I pucked him in the face.’
A couple that weren’t mentioned but should have been:
—Buddy as a third-person singular pronoun, basically meaning ‘the guy’ or ‘that guy’. See ‘puck’ above.
—Use of the construction subject + was/were after + gerund/progressive instead of the past perfect tense. For example, where other English speakers might say something like ‘I had just eaten my supper,’ some Cape Bretoners might say ‘I was just after eating my supper.’ I believe this comes from Gaelic; my theory is that it was the result of native Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton choosing a quirky way to translate certain Gaelic phrases that could be translated a number of ways in English. Most likely the Gaels who popularized this peculiar construction were the ones who use ‘an deidh‘ (after) instead of ‘air‘ (on) to express what we would call perfect tenses (this is a feature of certain Gaelic dialects from the Hebrides).
OK, that last one was a bit out there. You might be thinking, Buddy’s right good at grammar. Friggin’ rights, b’y.
By the way, thanks to Language Hat for the heads up about that little online phrasebook.
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13 Comments
Dear Jordan,
Very interesting.
If you ever get to my part of the world (Bristol in the UK), this is what you might here:
A conversation at the bus stop.
Mind Jew, the number fort rate bus is late.
Wur zat to?
Lorn Wessen
‘Tis cold here. My asthmal’s worst. Just went to see the specialist. He tols the the krek way to take them in-hay-lors. Wur ar you to?
Om. The missus making tea. Eye betcha its lush. She’s a good cook, mind.
Its wurth it you rushin beck, then. (pause) Wash’ll I have tonight, wonder? Bangers and mash I wreck con, as ushual.
Etc
This is f**king gay, heheheh
Nothing to talk ‘about’
why don’t we talk about something….
happy…something gay?
Click here
Sunnny day…llaalalalaa..everythings A O K
Jordan,
Interesting lesson on colloquialism!
On a side note, my husband’s Canadian colleague in his Masters programme ALWAYS end his conversations with an EH.
Like, you look all mysterious wearing that hat, EH?
Or, when it’s out 10 degrees all I wear is a t-shirt and short, EH?
And I notice you use that EH too…
Is it a unique interjection only in certain parts of Canada?
Kindly enlighten!
Thanks!
Ida: Hehe!
Kuku Man: You need help.
Theta: The ‘eh’ thing is pretty widespread in Canada. I use it all the time, and what confuses people is that it’s not always used as a question tag. Sometimes it’s just a….tag.
like lah?
i think LAH is not only msian. when i was in my training class, i showed a girl on how to do something and ended it with a lah, she told me i’ve picked up the newfoundland twang, but i had to tell her i use it a lot in msia too. i find the “eh” is infectious, i seem to end my sentences with it too.
hey it is not my fault!
even if I am the kuku man!
Those video and issue were/are authentic and was available long before the day of blogging!
and Babylon exist long believe those stupid X-files and UFO!
It makes sense that you’d mention that site :)
If you are interested in similar words and phrases go to the website http://www.damuddertung.com. There are two slang dictionaries available at a reasonable cost. Da Mudder Tung and Anudder Mudder. The books are a “corker” to read.
I am originally from Liverpool UK from Irish (Gaelic) stock and I see great similarity in the language. The Liverpool accent is called Scouse and it is common for statements such as “Is right” said in agreement. “Go for it is extremely common and so are some of the others mentioned.
I have heard many from Glasgow Scotland refer to a wimpish person as a “Wee sook”.
I now live in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland which is Gaelic and I can see the arguement for the structure of the language. Most people here speak Gaelic as their first language but mainly converse in public in English. One aspect of the language I find most interesting is that kids will say “How” instead of “why”. An example would be me saying it is time for bed to which my kids would reply “How”. For years I would respond by saying “By walking up the stairs”.
It was only after some thought that I realised that “How” was simply the abbreviated form of “How is that?. Strange!
There are many other examples of vastly different language structures that ring true with the example given in your article.
us capers also say “fack aff b’y” instead of “fuck off”
and go’wan when someones telling a story that is false or the person being told the story doesnt believe “I swear john the fish was 100 feet long” “ahhhh go’wan b’y”
I’m a Cape Bretoner who wants to set the rest of you straight on Cape Breton languange and what it’s all about…since you’re all only guessing…lol.
A dozen beer IS a case…a bureau IS a dresser…running under a swing IS an ‘underduck’…a crybaby IS a ’sook’…right DOES mean very…dinner IS lunch…fill your boot DOES mean ‘go for it’ lol…puck, buddy, how and eh…well puck DOES mean hit…buddy IS a third person descriptive…how DOES mean why sometimes and eh is universally Canadian. So maybe you’re not wrong but there is SO much more to know. Most of these slangs are of purposeful intent…to make the other laugh. And “fack ya bye” is only on the east cost of the island. Fuk ya is west coast.