The variable character of nerves in a Newfoundland fishing village

The popular complaint nerves has complex and variable meanings in the tiny, coastal fishing village of Grey Rock Harbour, Newfoundland. In everyday life, the term is distinct from mental and physical disease and is instead used to communicate a wide‐range of minor psychosomatic complaints as well as emotions, moral standards and world view. The term is so frequently used that in some respects it has become a cliche. Analysis of the variable character of nerves focuses on reconciling the contradictory with the more coherent facets of nerves as a folk idiom. Special attention is paid to the affective character of nerves, especially nerves as “anxiety,” which has been hypercognized into a culture‐specific and highly elaborated concept of worry.