I was watching that and laughed my ass off. Apparently they don't use that word up here. And I was thinking that about the "Ode".

I have said it before and I will say it again but Newfs are one of the few peoples I am jealous of not being one of. Youse folk and Norwegians.

I noticed that the Finnish skip had a long surname: Markku Uusipaavalniemi. I wonder what a 'Uusipaavalniemi' is. I bet it's not 'Smith'.

I think it means "person who makes useful things from hammering hot metal."

School mates from Lower Upper Canada would always tell me "No, it's pronounced 'suck'". Not the same meaning at all, I would reply.

Entirely different as you say. A "sook" is a baby reference while a "suck" is a brown-noser.

When I was writing the story with the "big sook" comment, I was surprised that my mainland colleagues - we have a chat room running during the day for fielding questions on spelling, style, etc. - were not at all familiar with the word "sook." I had assumed it was a word that went well beyond our borders. Evidently not!

I put the quote in because I thought it was a very human moment, particularly given his mom's health problems, and the fact Brad Gushue has been so measured through the whole week.

Cheers.

"Sook" was definitely Nova Scotian 1970 playground material, John, but I don't know if it gets past Atlantic Canada. It would be interesting to know if it is known in Maine.

'Sook' is a cry baby, or someone who cries unnecessarily, as Alan said. We'd use 'ye folk' (not 'youse') as in this usage. It's a fascinating English language usage.

re: early 70s NS playground lingo

I recall "sookie baby" as well (not me, mind!), and I think it could also be a verb, as in 'to be a cry baby' or 'to sook', "he/she sooked off home", "quit sookin'!", etc.

"Sookie baby" is quite right. That is what you would call someone in elementary school whereas by law school is was more of a behind the back thing: "Jim's a big f*$&ing sook".<p>I didn't know "ye folk" but that reminds me of the distinction "you all/y'all" (singular) and "all you all/all y'all" (plural) that John of Argghhh explained as Kansas. "Youse" would certainly be understood as a collective second person pronoun in NS but I do not know that it would be culturally fixed. I could recall an older person shouting "youse kids" at us. One neighbour, Mrs. Walters who was also the daugther in law of the captain of the Bluenose so a ur-source of a sort, shouted "youse kids get out of the garden or I'll crucify you" when I was in grade four or five. The invocation of the Roman form of execution was quite a startling move on her part.

I remember all the verb forms Mike mentions. Here's entries from the <i>Dictionary of Newfoundland English</i>: ye¹, ye², youse.

is it known in maine. well nobody has called me on it yet and, as al can attest, i am the master of its proper use and almost every other other buttery derogative known to man. i use em all often.............well, the ones i know about anyway..........and, yeah, i just like to think that i am but prove that i'm not.

no shame in being a big old sook by the way. it's a lovely thing to be in the proper circumstances. good on gushue.

and as a side note, let me teel you, that you never really know how much you like watching curling until you move away and can't anymore.

and i never wanted to be anything but swiss.

the word "sook" was heard on playgrounds in PEI, as well as "sookie baby" (never in reference to myself, of course). the latter term was used in Fisherman's Friend cough drop commercial, I think, and I also think I've heard the Trailer Park Boys use those words. That is, when they're not using cuss words.

It's also used in NB schoolyards.

I assumed, like many others in Ontario I suspect, that "sook" was a Newfoundland pronunciation of "suck". Growing up in Ottawa in the 70s and 80s, we used the term "taking a suck" or "having a (major) suck attack" to refer to an overly emotional or histrionic display. If sooky behaviour means being a "cry baby", then a suck attack would include a wider range of behaviour. Suck attacks can take a variety of forms, from crying to pouting, as long as it is an overreaction of some kind.

My better half claims that is what "suck" meant in the East Wawanash schoolyard in 1977 but I think sook is different conceptually as "suck" to me is "suck-up" or even that pouty thing but "sook" is less negative in the sense of baby in mommy arm's. Generally immature as opposed to sulking so if some kid didn't get the joke about sex when they are ten that could be a "sook" moment but not a "suck" one. It also has neediness sort of like "Bob not coming on the business trip. Bob's afraid of planes. Bob's a f#$#ing 'fraidy cat". Bob in this situation is a "sook" but not a "suck".

I grew up in NB and we called my security blanket my "sookie".

I am American, but my boyfriend is a "Newfie"... and he calls me his "BIG SOOK" because I'm such an emotional person. He told me that "SOOK" is someone who cries very easily. It has come to my attention that newfie's use that word alot. <smile>

Hmmm, a 'sookie blanket' - yeah, that rings a bell.

My Dad still calls me 'Sookie' sometimes.

...would that be perhaps because you one?

Well...