The word "navvie also spelled navvy
This is a word that oft times comes into question as to what does it mean and Gord used it in "The Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (we are the "navvies" who work upon the railway).
On a recent gig in Ottawa during the St. Patrick's festivities the band I worked with had a song in the set list called McAlpines Fusillers and the word is also used in that song.
It talks about Sir Robert McAlpine, a ruthless construction contractor who shouted "I'm a navvy short" when one of his workers was killed in an accident on the job.
It seems that's the way things were in that era.
Here's to better times, RJ.
|