This sounds as if it would have come from someone who has been around both Cape Bretoners and Newfoundlanders. Back in the 'seventies, I had a friend from Cape Breton who would occasionally snort at the "drunken-Rory-in-his-dory stories" that were, according to my friend, recounted on a not-infrequent basis amongst persons of a certain social class on the island of his birth. "Rory" is, at least on the western side of the Atlantic, a distinctly Scottish name, and familiar in Cape Breton. However, the way "the bay" and the "sou'wester" are used here are at least equally suggestive of Newfoundland, if not moreso. While Newfoundland certainly does not have a monopoly on bays, "the bay" as a communally-recognized locale is, I think it is fair to say, a part of Newfoundland consciousness. On the other hand, "bays" and "sou'westers" are familiar concepts all along the north-east coast.

And it is possible that the ultimate source of my friend's rhyming of "Rory" and "dory" is the song, rather than the song (or ditty) being inspired by a folk expression.

And then the line from a verse quoted above - "Oh, Rory, oh, begorrah, oh," - suggests an Irish or mock-Irish element.

Hard to imagine it has anything to do with the Portuguese. Perhaps in the context of the piece of writing in which the connection is made, the reader is to understand that there IS no real connection - that the father is just being silly, or is a blowhard, or innocently ignorant.

I hope someone can find a complete set of lyrics; I've never come across this song before.

(Adrien: where do you remember those lines from?)