screech

I've had screech. It made me drunk, but I'm 90% certain I kissed no cod.

Usage, in keeping with the Newfoundland theme of this page:
"Along the battered headlands, a lighthouse stands defiantly against a mackerel sky. Herring gulls squabble in high-pitched cacophony. A whale's blow sprouts from the sea. I try to imagine the winter here. Isolation. Darkness. The constant threat of starvation. How soothing it must have been to warm the cockles with some fiery rum.

"Screech was introduced to Newfoundland in colonial days, when salt cod was traded to the West Indies in exchange for what was then a no-name rum. The nickname apparently is of World War II vintage: It seems that an American officer downed a shot of this Newfoundland hospitality in one gulp and let out a screeching howl when his throat ignited." --Paula Stone, "A Trip Off the Old Rock," Washington Post, Sunday, April 22, 2007; Page P01.

You know, I was just asking myself whether I'd submit to that--and to my surprise, I realized I would! What fun. :-)

Oh god, what I wouldn't give to be screeched-in in Newfoundland... I'd kiss a cod, damn straight I would!

Moose milk? Do tell!

My information on screech comes from my sister, who lived in Newfoundland for three years before moving to Ontario. I will have to ask her about the cod-kissing tradition. certainly, based on photographic evidence of her time there, the prevailing impression is that liquor played an important role as a (means of preserving one's sanity/social lubricant). There was also some mysterious concoction known as moose milk.

Isn't this concoction the basis of a longtime tradition of "screeching" a newcomer in Newfoundland? You have to drink a shot of screech, kiss a cod on the mouth, and recite a Newfoundland saying before receiving an official screechers' certificate. Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure. :-)

Some kind of rum-based alcoholic concoction, popular in Newfoundland,