ABSTRACT
Canadian jokes about Newfoundlanders occupy an interesting intermediate position. The American Polish joke cycle of the 1960s soon spread to Eastern Canada where the jokes were pinned on the inhabitants of Newfoundland, Canada's island province in the Atlantic Ocean. When jokes are imported they are adapted to take account of local circumstances and in the case of Quebec the local language. Also although many of the jokes about ethnic stupidity have travelled from the United States to Canada, many Newfie jokes have clearly been invented in Canada and reflect specifically Canadian characteristics. The importance and popularity of Newfoundland jokes in Canada are now declining in the twenty-first century after the boom in such jokes between the 1960s and 1990s, much as has happened in other countries, but for a joke cycle to last for over thirty years is in itself remarkable.
