solomon gosse proper n Cp SEARY Family Names (1976), p. 198 for 18-19th cent 'planters' of that name. In phr ~'s birthday: designating day(s) of the week when a boiled dinner of salt meat, pudding, etc, is customarily served, DUFF1: ~ DAY; ~'s dinner: the meal so served.
1896 J A Folklore ix, 33 Solomon Gosse's birthday ... is applied to Tuesdays and Fridays as pudding-days, when at the seal or cod fishing. 1937 Bk of Nfld i, 232 Pork-and-duff days were Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays among the early fishermen in the cookroom. When the cook, influenced by the men, served this meal on any other day it was called 'Solomon Gosse's Birthday,' the excuse originally given to the economical grub-saving planter when the rule was first broken. The name became common all over Newfoundland. C 69-20 Solomon Gosse's birthday is either Tuesday or Thursday. The meal would be pork and cabbage. 1975 Evening Telegram 21 June, p. 17 My son, mind Solomon Gosse's dinner, as Thursday was called, pork and cabbage?
