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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the Nor'easter blows
By adamg on Sat, 05/28/2005 - 11:46am
Jay is inclined to call big, gale-y windstorms Northeasters, in part because the media probably made "nor'easter" up:
... The greatest piece of evidence in my favor is that national network TV people love to use 'Nor'easter', just as they loved 'The Curse,' a sure sign I'm right, or at least closer to the truth. ...
Good argument, but I still prefer "nor'easter," in part because it just sounds so Boston to me (growing up in Nooyawk, we had blizzards and big rainstorms, not "nor'easters"). But also, "Northeaster" just doesn't sound like a huge, fundamental force of nature - it sounds like the name of an Amtrak train ("now boarding on track 12, the Northeaster, making station stops in Providence, Westerly, Mystic, Old Saybrook, New Haven, Bridgeport, New York Pennsylvania Station and 30th Street Philadelphia, track 12").
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Comments
Nor'easters
The Globe's language columnist wrote about this a couple of years ago. The link is here. Some other references are here.
The Globe
They have a strict "Northeaster" policy, so I was a bit surprised the other day when I saw "nor'easter" on boston.com.
"Arhhh ya ready fah
"Arhhh ya ready fah ahhnahtha nor'eastah? Ya know it's comin'. Ahhh...if my mohtha didn't live heeah, I'd move to Flahhhridah..."
Universal Hub is right.
Universal Hub is right. Northeaster sounds incredibly boring, like a phenomena that doesn't much matter to anybody. Regardless of its actual origin, nor'easter sounds like a word mangled by decades of story telling, of wisdom passed on from generation to generation: "Better take the Durango, the nor'easter is wicked close now."