The Onion has it right. It’s a mess of a world and we have to laugh at that. Crosby, Stills and Nash said it too. It’s not the way it should be, not at all, but we can still do okay.

The Newfies know all this. Life is more than tough. It’s bullshit and worse. All they had was the fish, and now not even that. And yet you won’t find them moaning about anything. Not at all. It’s in the words; there’s a dictionary of Newfoundland words – indispensable in my research for my novel – that spells it out. Look up maul mouth, chucklehead and angishore. There’s bogger too, and sulick and ree raw. They’re all in there, good words. The best.