I was going to put this as a note solely in my facebook profile, but I think it deserves a larger audience. I recently became aware of a facebook group called “Help get rid of the word newfie”.

I didn’t join it. I have no problem with the word Newfie. I grew up in Mt. Pearl, left Newfoundland as an adult, and I’m a fiercely proud Newfoundlander and Canadian. Not out of any jingoistic nature, I just love where I’m from.

Why don’t I have a beef with the word “newfie”? Because it’s a word, and a word is meaningless and powerless absent its context. Someone is just as capable of pissing me off by calling me a “Newfoundlander” with a dismissive or condescending tone as they are by doing so with “Newfie”. The word chosen is irrelevant.

Don’t try to ban a word — it’s a pointless endeavour. Get rid of the attitudes that make the word offensive to you. If someone’s going to use the word “Newfie” as a pejorative, getting rid of the word isn’t going to make that attitude go away. In fact, by trying to get rid of the word, you only demonize those who use it with no malice of intent. And the jerks still get to be jerks. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Someone who wants to insult you is going to insult you, and the words they choose to use to do so should really have little bearing on the fact that they are trying to offend you. Don’t get offended by a word, get offended by a concept. Get offended by an intention. Get offended by actions. But don’t make a single word be your particular hair trigger. Let’s fight ignorance, not vocabulary.