From Newfies to Niggers and Other Terms of Endearment

As a proud Newfoundlander it makes my skin to crawl and my blood pressure spike whenever I hear people use the word “Newfie” in a derogatory way. I’ve come to see this word in the same way I see words like “Nigger”, “Kyke” or “Polack”. Each of those words are extremely disturbing to hear, just as disturbing to commit to paper and I hope even more disturbing for you to read.

I believe the reason such words are so repulsive is that they serve no purpose other than to belittle and insult an entire group of people. Unfortunately, unlike many other words of their kind “Newfie” is still a term that remains acceptable for use in general conversation.

You often come across “Newfie” in the most unexpected places. No place is immune, the work place, business meetings, news articles and even in the comments of less enlightened government officials. Sometimes the term is used by someone who simply doesn’t realize it is offensive to many people, but more often than not it’s clearly intended to send a message. The message is that the speaker doesn’t respect Newfoundlanders in the least and that views, beliefs, or anything else related them, are insignificant and simply don't matter.

For years “Newfie” jokes have made the rounds and for just as many years Newfoundlanders have kept quiet when hearing them. Perhaps in this way, and in continuing to use the word ourselves on occasion, we’ve been our own worst enemy. For far too long we’ve let this word live and spread around the globe with all of its ugly connotations firmly in place. Perhaps it’s finally time we began saying something when we hear it used again. Maybe it’s time we stopped using the word in our own conversations. Maybe too it’s time we began educating others that it’s not O.K. to for them to use the word “Newfie” under any circumstances.

A clear case of someone using the word “Newfie” in the vilest manner was reported just this week in Western newspapers. The story related how an Edmonton police officer listed someone’s status as "newphie" on an official document while detaining them under the Mental Health Act. The officer was eventually charged with discreditable conduct and given a warning for stating in the document that one of the reasons for apprehending the person was because: "He is a newphie."

My first thought on reading this story was to wonder about the mental capacity of the officer involved, not the person apprehended. This wonderment was only reinforced by the fact that the officer didn’t even know how to spell the word correctly. Once my initial anger settled I began to think less about the officer involved and more about a system that only saw fit to issue a simple warning over the incident.

It seems no matter how hard the people of Newfoundland and Labrador struggle to improve their place in this Country there are always those who are more than willing to knock us back down, just as there are those who will look the other way when it happens.

There will always racists who continue to use the term “Newfie” for all it implies. Perhaps this officer is one of those people, though I sincerely hope he isn’t. The people who refuse to stop using the word will doubtlessly be the same ones who refuse to move away from using other derogatory terms when speaking about people outside their limited circle. Those situations I can understand even while disliking the people involved. Having said that, is it too much to ask that this one word be treated like others of its kind and for the word to be recognized as socially unacceptable to use? Is it too much to ask that using the word “Newfie” be considered taboo at the very least and perhaps even racist at its worst?

The common factor with words like “Nigger”, “Kyke” and “Polack” is their ability to lower the status of an entire people and to verbally assault those people by making them feel belittled and uncomfortable. Use of the word “Newfie” is no different than using those other words, so why is its use still acceptable in an age when using those other words is not?

There will no doubt be those who will laugh off this situation and see it as just another “Newfie” blowing things out of preportion. They will claim that Newfoundlanders are not a distinct people like some other groups so there isn't a problem. Those people need to consider the following:

1. What this particular officer did shows a clear lack of seriousness regarding the gravity of the incident he was addressing.

2. His actions show a lack of empathy and understanding for the impact such a charge might have on the person being apprehended.

3. The officer displayed a level of ignorance and racism that would likely have been addressed more severely by his superiors if a term such as “Nigger” had been used in that document.

This situation has arisen, at least in part, because of the accepted use of the word “Newfie” and all that implies. In the eyes of this officer and his superiors Newfoundlanders are “insignificant” enough that this is not a major issue for them.

If you don’t believe a simple word like "Newfie" can have that much of an impact, think about this:

In this particular incident a Canadian citizen was denied his right to freedom by a law enforcement officer partly, according to the officer’s own words, because the man was from Newfoundland. The officer's punishment was a warning.

Do I need to say more?