PATTERSON ON NEWFOUNDLAND DIALECT. Ixxvii 



collar to denote working on a ship preparatory to sailing either 

 for seal or cod fishing. A curious one of which I can get no explana- 

 tion is she'd lick her cuff, that is, submit to any humiliation, to be 

 let go to a dance or secure what object she has in view. But one 

 of the most amusing uses of a word is that of miserable simply as 

 intensive. Thus a person will speak of a miserable fine day. Occasion- 

 ally there is something poetic in their expressions, as when the land is 

 described as just mourning for manure. 



In these two papers I am far from having exhausted the subject, but 

 I believe that they will be sufficient to show that in the peculiarities of 

 Newfoundland speech we have an interesting field of inquiry. Here is 

 a people living in a secluded position , but retaining words and forms 

 of speech brought by their fathers from England, which elsewhere 

 have passed away entirely, or are preserved only as provincialisms in 

 some limited districts. In this quarter the study of these has been 

 neglected hitherto. Persons Joying claim to education have regarded 

 them simply as vulgarisms, and have expressed some surprise that I 

 should have deemed them worthy of thoughtful investigation. They 

 could scarcely conceive that the rude speech of unlettered fishermen 

 was really part of the language of Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer. 

 What I have done will, I trust, stimulate further enquiry, and that 

 without delay. Education and intercourse with people of other lands 

 will soon modify if not entirely wear away these peculiarities. It is to 

 be hoped, therefore, that while the opportunity lasts there will be found 

 among those having intercourse with them, persons to prosecute the 

 inquiry farther, and to seek to gather the fullest information on a 

 subject interesting in itself, but especially so as bearing on the past of 

 our English mother-tongue. 



Remarks on the subject of Dr. Patterson's paper were made by W. 

 H. HARRINGTON, ESQ., and DR. REID. 



SEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 

 Legislative Council Chamber, Halifax, llth May, 1896. 

 The PRESIDENT in the chair. 



It was announced that W. HAGUE HARRINGTON, ESQ., F. R. S. C. 

 of Ottawa, Canada, had been elected a Corresponding Member at the 

 last meeting of the council. 



