How to Say "Newfoundland"

As Newfoundlanders, we tend to collectively gripe a fair bit. The weather in Newfoundland is typically "not good." Other topics that receive a similar qualifier are the economy, the government, our place in Canada, and the prevalence of "Newfie jokes."

But one legitimate gripe we have is with the (admittedly innocent) mangling of our island's name. Labrador escapes this fate, being named after a lovely Portuguese explorer and pronounced exactly like it is spelled. Newfoundland, possessing a name formed from three perfectly common words, is nonetheless subject to constant mispronunciation. Most Newfoundlanders patiently bear it, usually only correcting those with whom they are on close terms, lest they come off as arrogant.

This page is dedicated to educating, impartially and without judgment, those CFAs (Come From Aways) who will be visiting the island for the upcoming event in order that they might impress the Newfies with their flawless enunciation of a place name consisting of a common adjective, a past-tense verb, and a noun.

Mispronunciations generally fall prey to two problems: the last two syllables. Almost everyone can say "new" correctly. Let us first deal with the "land," as this is the most common error that causes the vocalization of the place name to fail.

Say "land." It rhymes with "hand" and "band," yes? That is how it must be pronounced in the word Newfoundland. Not as a "lind" or "lund", but "land." (A common trick that some Newfoundlanders employ when trying to teach this is that the island's name should rhyme with "understand," forming the almost-mnemonics "Newfoundland, understand?" and "Understand: Newfoundland!") If you can successfully sound out the vowel in "land," then your pronunciation will be good enough that most Newfies will never bring it up.

Advanced speakers will want, however, to perfect their naming skills by mastering the subtlety of the tricky middle syllable: "found." As opposed to "land," "found" should not be pronounced as the past tense of "find." Nor should it be pronounced as "fund" or "find" (which is common in attempts labeled by Islanders as "quite good enough"). Remember that the final syllable carries the stress of the word, so the vowel sound in "found" is practically nonexistent, rendering something like: "noo-fnd-LAND." In practical use, the d-sound of "found" is barely audible as well (although it is there), so one can safely say "noo-fn-LAND" and impress all the Newfoundlanders one meets with one's worldliness.

The demonym "Newfoundlander" is formed exactly the same way, by killing the vowel sound in the "found" and stressing "land." (And is almost universally preferable to the term "Newfie," which is regarded by many - but by no means all - Newfoundlanders as pejorative and vaguely insulting.)

Congratulations! You are now ready to visit NoofndLAND!