Up, Down, Over, Out....

The Saint John River Outside my house. In the winter if freezes but water continues to move under the ice, pushing the ice up on top of itself and causing ice dams in the river (and eventually flooding upriver). 

In my last post I talked about the similarities that exist between Florenceville (Rural) and Halifax (City). I am the type of person who can adapt and survive (and sometimes even thrive) nearly anywhere so seeing the similarities is pretty normal for me. As one who can adapt anywhere I try my best to quickly pick up on local cultural norms and adapt to them as well as I can (A good ministry trick that I learned through Dr. Peed and my Cultural Anthropology class).


Where do you live?

One of the first things one must do to 'fit in' is adjust dialect and so I set out to learn and the biggest adjustment (that didn't take all that long to adapt to) was directions. Nobody cares (or knows) what your house number is. What matters is how many telephone poles after the sharp turn or how many driveways before the bridge you are. What will work even better is if you know who lived in your house before you, people will immediately know where you live then (and it's even better if you were the only one to build a house on  your road in the past 10 years... like me).



You are somebody's child.... 

I grew up in the country and something I did NOT miss was introducing myself and having the question come back as "And whose son are  you now?"
Well... I am back in the country and I have heard that question multiple times, but not directed at me (Since people know I'm not from here). But when I am talking about someone (A new kid at youth group, a funny thing someone said, etc.) the first question I will get is "Now, whose child is that"

I DON'T KNOW! I didn't ask for a complete family history, physical, and report card the first time I met them. But, if I am talking to the right person it won't matter if I don't know the answer- they will fill me in (even through they are just spewing names of people I have never met or never will meet).




Directions... 

Finally, the easiest dialect change to make is geographical because it is all based on where you are and where you are heading in relation to the river.

Heading north? You're going "Up River"
South? "Down River"
Pretty much anything East is "Out Back"* 
Heading to Fredericton? Nope... you are "Goin' to the city"
Thinking about going to Maine to do some shopping? You are "Goin' over 'cross"

*"Out Back" is also used to refer to any place that is obscure and not well known. Example: "Coldstream is out back 'a Hartland"  or  "Ashland is out back 'a Coldstream"


I love it. Reminds me of home, reminds me of dad. I feel comfortable and I am sure that as we continue to work in the community we will discover more local dialect that makes this community and area so unique. (I am sure we will learn lots as Valerie works closely with farmers and tractor salesmen.... yes, tractor salesmen are a thing).