A listener who grew up in Newfoundland remembers her grandfather declaring the fog was thick as burgoo. Turns out burgoo was sailors’ slang for a gray, gelatinous oatmeal—exactly the right image for an impenetrable Newfoundland fog. The word appears in the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, though it likely came from England and Scotland. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, burgoo means something entirely different: a thick, meaty outdoor stew made from whatever’s on hand, a staple of Derby Week in Louisville, Kentucky. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Burgoo Porridge, Burgoo Stew”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, good afternoon.
My name is Catherine.
I’m calling from Ontario in Canada, but my question is about a phrase that I heard when I was growing up in Newfoundland.
So it it would have been around nineteen seventy four and my grandfather would come in from outside and he would say the fog is thick as burgoo out there and I would say, Popo, what is burgoo?
And he would just laugh.
And I have never heard anybody else saying The fog is thick as burgoo.
So we’re talking you can’t see your hand in front of your face kind of thick.
Exactly.
Exactly..
Yeah Just r really thick and I’ve never heard anybody else in the family use it, but I don’t know what burgoo is.
Yeah, it’s as thick as oatmeal porridge actually.
Burgoo was a name that was applied by eighteenth century sailors to sort of that gray sludge of oatmeal that they would eat.
You know, oats boiled in seawater, maybe a smear of salt fat or something like that.
And so if they were talking about fog that was really, really thick, yeah, they would say it was thick as burgoo.
Wow, I’ve never heard porridge called burgoo, but it it makes sense.
Well it’s very much a Canadianism though.
Yeah, and what’s really weird is is as a native Kentuckian I have to mention that burgoo in Kentucky is very very popular, but it’s not oatmeal or porridge, it’s a thick soup or stew that’s made with whatever meat you have around beef, venison, porks, even squirrel, and vegetables.
It’s usually cooked outdoors.
And if you can’t stand up a spoon in it, if if you put the spoon in and it falls over, then that burgoo is not ready.
And it’s super popular in Kentucky and part of Illinois and especially Derby Week in in Louisville.
Yeah, I’m seeing here, Martha, that that burgoo definition as oatmeal is actually kind of old fashioned and many people in Canada use it in the way that you’ve just described it, which is it’s whatever you have on hand put into a stew.
Mm—
Mm—
Yeah, and we’re not sure of the origin of burgu.
There’s a good chance that sailors picked it up from similar sounding Arabic or Persian words for bulgur, you know, that kind of wheat that is in taboule, but we’re not sure about the origin.
Oh that’s interesting.
Yeah.
Well he m he he was a fisherman, so he might have picked it up that way, right?
Yeah.
Oh that’s interesting.
Thank you so much for explaining.
Sure thing.
And that’s B U R G O O.
I assume that’s how your family knew it.
That’s how I’ve always assumed it was spelt, but like I say I’ve never I’ve cer I’ve never seen it written down, so outstanding.
Well thank you so much and you take care.
Thank you very much.
Bye bye.
Bye bye.
Bye.
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