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by flakes 987 days ago
Newfie here. Newfoundland dropped the NLFD abbreviation for just NL about 20 years or so ago.

I’ve always heard that we painted the houses with whatever paint was on hand because the wind is strong that it strips away every couple of years. And we’re not a rich group of people, so whatever paint you have is the right paint!

My grandfather used to remark on the houses “they were crap when the went up, but somehow lasted 50 years, so I guess they’re heritage now”.

But, they do look pretty in the summer!
2 comments
flakes 987 days ago
On the note of our acronym: After being a territory of Brittan, Newfoundland was its own country for a brief period of time. Much earlier before this point, Brittan conquered Labrador from the french (which used to be called "New France"), and the ownership over the land was disputed between Quebec and the self-governing colony of Newfoundland for quite some time. The dispute lasted into the mid 1920's, leaving the upper portion of the land in Newfoundland control. Some islands remain to this day under French governance, such as Saint Pierre & Miquelon. When we joined Canada in 1949, we retained Labrador, but were still named Newfoundland, having the acronym NFLD. In the early 2000's we decided to change the name to Newfoundland and Labrador to better reflect our province, and as part of this change, redefined the acronym as NL.
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dghughes 987 days ago
> ownership over the land was disputed between Quebec

Still. Check that border map according to what Quebec thinks vs official maps of Canada.

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Maultasche 986 days ago
I was in Newfoundland in July and I noticed a few interesting things:

- The houses tended to be colorful

- Almost all the buildings I saw looked like they were just painted, I did see a couple buildings with peeling paint, but I think they were abandoned

- I personally saw around 10 different people in the middle of painting their houses just driving along in remote rural areas, all in the span of about a week. Where I live (in California), I only see this about once every 5 years.

- Paint stores are widespread, even in small rural towns where there are hardly any businesses at all

I don't know why the people of Newfoundland love painting their buildings so much, but it really makes the place look nice.

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