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cuffer
DCHP-2 (Mar 2014)
1n. — Newfoundland, dated
a tale or story.
Type: 2. Preservation — Cuffer is a British dialectal term meaning a 'yarn' or 'tall tale' (EDD, s.v. "cuff" 4(2)) that likely developed from the phrase to cuff over 'to discuss or gossip'. Though the term also appears occasionally in American English and Australian English (see W-3, s.v. "cuffer"(1), & AND, s.v. "cuffer"), it bears particular social and cultural significance in Newfoundland, a loquacious place. There is, moreover, an important semantic difference. Whereas in the other countries the term explicitly signifies a false tale, Faris (1966: 244) asserts that a cuffer can be and is used in Newfoundland as a device to exaggerate an already well-known story for the purpose of humour or the revival of a dying conversation. Joseph 'Joey' Smallwood, the first premier of Newfoundland, was known for his use of the art of the cuffer as a political tool in the rural parts of the province, where the technique has been most popular (Paine 1985: 60).
See also DNE, s.v. "cuffer" (1).
See also DNE, s.v. "cuffer" (1).
Quotations
1925
"'Gard o' he tellin' a cuffer (lie) 'bout his name he done what any man o' sense would of done aburd a ship wid a hundred an' sixty men ahl enemies to de fader o' he. [...]"
1950
Me son, Tom, he's still up there, goin' to school. Why didn't I stay? Well, stranger, that's a long story, but if you're in the mood fer a cuffer...
1961
Over thirty years ago, I lived in Catalina (Port Union) for over six years, in my twenties, in a commercial position that brought me in touch constantly with its people, not to mention social life; I came to know four-fifths of the male adults, and I was into dozens of their homes, both on business and searching for antiques; my conversations frequently (from lifelong habit) slewed into cuffers on family and local traditions [...].
1980
In a protean stream, / the cuffers* fly across the stove, / get caught in the iron heat / and flow to the ceiling. [...] *stories
1992
Smallwood was a master at what anthropologist Robert Paine has called "interlocutory rhetoric", whereby oratory took the form of a "conversation" with the audience. [...] Speeches were also illustrated with tall stories ("cuffers") which seized the imagination of the audience.
2000
From his work as "The Barrelman," Smallwood has concluded that "cuffers" or tall tales are a particularly common and well-performed genre in Newfoundland (56).
2n. — Newfoundland, dated, Social customs
a gathering for the purpose of sharing or exchanging tales or stories.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — Though it seems that cuffer in this sense was originally restricted to fishermen (see the 1937 quotation), it has expanded in Newfoundland to mean a gathering for a chat by any group. Clarke (2010b: 119) notes that there is a tendency in Newfoundland English for words "originally associated with a nautical or fishery context [to take] on a more general meaning". Commonly used in the phrase have a cuffer (see the 1994 and 2003 quotations), the term typically has positive or friendly connotations. As part of a phrase, cuffer appears most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1).
See also DNE, s.v. "cuffer" (2).
See also DNE, s.v. "cuffer" (2).
Quotations
1937
CUFFER. A meeting of fishermen or seamen, generally aboard a ship, to have a friendly chat or "swap yarns."
1953
"Good day for fishin', b'y," he says. "Aye," I grunted. I was in no mood for a cuffer with him that day. Pop had just brought me a new bamboo rod from St. John's and I wanted to try it in peace.
1994
Both brothers were a familiar sight in Greenspond walking the roads, or leaning on the rails near the Post Office having a cuffer.
1996
Now, on most summer evenings, apparently, the elderly gentlemen of the community would gather there and have a cuffer until the Constable walked up through town. They would then say good night to each other and make their way home.
2003
By the end of a few weeks he looked and acted a whole lot better. Some nights we'd have a real cuffer. If Mom and Dad could a seen it they probably would a had to laugh to theirselves. There was was, carrying on what you could call a sensible conversation. Neither one of us stretching our lungs the least bit.
References
- AND
- Faris (1966)
- Paine (1985)
- DNE
- Clarke (2010b)
- W-3
- EDD
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