I’M JUST SAYIN’...

Sooks and slinks: Cape Breton really does have a language of its own.

I spent the week watching curling live from St. John’s, N.L. During each game they featured an article on Newfoundland language — sleveen, squish, a time, and words like that as I remember my Newfie grandmother using when I was a kid.

That got me thinking about the need for a dictionary of Cape Breton language when lo and behold I discover that William Davey and Richard MacKinnon from Cape Breton University have just published the very thing: “Dictionary of Cape Breton English.” Years of research have gone into this effort so all entries are verified as true Cape Bretonese.

So step aside, Newfies, you are not the only ones with a unique language.

Nowhere else in the world will you hear words like grading day, sook, or sooky, slink, mauzey or clamper. So let’s take a closer look.

Clamper: piece of ice floating close to shore used for a game where you try to jump from clamper to clamper. Sook/sooky: whiney person Rig: a funny character Slink: a small person, like a slink salmon

Grading Day: last day of school when you hope to pass or grade

Silver thaw: ice frozen on trees (far from a thaw) Rum sick: hungover Mauzey: damp, misty — a mauzey day

Puck: to hit someone — “A puck in the gob”

Whack: a large, indeterminate number

Whiff (double meaning): smell — get a whiff of this; throw — whiff the ball

The steel plant and the pit were also sources of words particular to this area:

Melter: a foreman in the open hearth

Blower: the person in charge of the heat at the blast furnace Cobble: a twisted rail Shot fire: person in charge of explosives in the pit

Shot fire wire: thin wire used to set of explosives in the pit or to wire a company house for electricity. Guaranteed work for electricians and firefighters

Gob: worked out part of the pit

Pluck Me Store: company owner store where miners purchased goods and paid on the check off assuring that they would never be out of debt

Splint: hard, stony coal like flint

Tea can: a can, usually homemade, to hold tea for lunch break — if you got one

And let’s not forget the fishing industry:

Whore’s egg: sea urchin Thick of fog: too foggy to fish Our social life also gives us more words and phrases:

Scat: a card game. To win a player must get 31 points on three cards

Club: a weekly womens gathering where they played scat

Tea: a social. Usually to raise money for the church Racket: a party

If you want to learn more about the unique parts of the Cape Breton language be sure to pick up a copy of the “Dictionary of Cape Breton Language” by William Davey and Richard MacKinnon, available at all local bookstores. It’s right good.

HELP !!!! – I am still looking for a copy of a team picture of the 1940-41 Glace Bay Miners. Anyone with a copy I could borrow and copy can contact me at davidqc@sheldonnathanson.ca.

I’m just sayin’...