The Nickname Game - Saltscapes Magazine

Being named after a superior spud may be colourful, but is it a compliment?Nobody knows why New Brunswickers are sometimes called "herringchokers" but according to one theory, it's because the women working in fish-packing plants used their thumbs and forefingers to pinch the heads off sardines. Norwegians who settled in Minnesota to fish in Lake Superior were also called herringchokers but, in their case, the term derived from squeezing herring through gill nets. In Galway, Ireland, fishermen were also once called herringchokers. Since other Galwegians were "sheep stealers" and "donkey ayters," however, the nickname may have been less than complimentary."Bluenoses" (sometimes "bluenosers") now means only Nova Scotians, but New Brunswickers may once have been bluenoses, too. Before 1921, when the most famous Bluenose slid into Lunenburg Harbour, seven shipyards in the Maritimes built Bluenoses, and three of them were in New Brunswick. The origin of "bluenose" is obscure, but its applic...