>>>>>>I wonder if newfies mind being called newfies? When I was in Newfoundland, I didn't ask them.
>>>>>
>>>>>It lasted for a while over here but I can tell you that I have'nt heard that term in many years.
>>>>
>>>>Once met a Newfie fireman, with a load of US firemen, in Cheers, Boston, where they were on a convention. They all took the p*ss out of him and he accepted the newfie handle gracefully. I can't see what the problem would be. People from Birmingham, England call themselves "Brummies", Liverpool - Scousers, London - Cockneys, Newcastle - Geordies, etc., etc.
>>>>
>>>>I'd be more surprised if they called themselves "Newfoundlanders".
>>>>
>>>>Incidentally, his native accent was VERY close to mine and I made him an honorary Scouser.
>>>
>>>Some Newfoundlanders have English accents, possibly from an earlier century, preserved in remote villages. Some may have Irish accents, though I didn't hear that. Many have their own accent. A few speak French, I believe.
>>
>>Yes, my accent, from the port of Liverpool, derives from Irish and Lancashire. It's not hard to imagine how a smilar accent would evolve in that remote, sea-faring place.
>
>I'm suggesting that the English accents of some Newfoundlanders did not evolve - they were preserved. The native Newfoundland accent doesn't sound English. It's more Canadian, but different from the accents of Canadians further west.

I wouldn't dispute that. But I'm saying that no way would you call my accent typically English (there ISN'T such a thing anyway). We have what you guys call a "British" accent, such as is heard from the token Englishman in film (e.g. Ralph Fiennes) but Scouse, Geordie, Cockney, Black Country, Glaswegian are all vastly different. I understand that when the Brit gangster movie from the 80s, "The Long Good Friday" (Cockney accents) was shown in America it had subtitles. Don't know about later ones: "Lock, Stock ..." etc.