Nor’easter or Northeaster?

Would any old salt worth his Grundens ever say "nor’easter"?

We’ve used the word in our books in the past, but are persuaded we should change our stylesheet. Thanks to Margaret Thomas Buchholz, co-author of Great Storms of the Jersey Shore, and editor of the forthcoming Seven Superstorms of the Northeast, for passionately sharing the following article with us. (Reprinted, courtesy Ms. Buchholz, from The Beachcomber, with permission.)

What do you think? Email us at: shore@att.net.


By TOM HALSTED

Every year at least a half dozen big northeast storms churn up the Atlantic coast, delivering torrential rains or dumping upwards of a foot of snow, depending on the season. They tear vessels from their moorings, disrupt air and highway traffic, close offices, shops and schools, and make everyone miserable but the school children, who find themselves with an unexpected day of freedom.

Coastal dwellers can handle great storms. We've all seen worse, but that does not stop the hyperbole of the radio or television weatherman. Well in advance of every great storm, throughout its height, and in its aftermath, legions of these breathless commentators, alarmists, and amateur meteorologists give vent, as their calling demands, to dire predictions and fulsome on-the-scene commentary. And -- particularly, with the winter storms -- no word bursts from their myriad tongues with such frequency as the dramatic epithet "nor’easter." The eager, young TV meteorologist who intones, "Folks, we've got a big nor'easter on our hands," thinks he or she is describing something really awesome, truly profound.

Well, I've got news for those young whippersnappers. That gimcrack word "nor'easter" is a made up, fake, pseudo-Yankee neologism that came from the same plastic cracker barrel as "ye olde Tea Shoppe." It should be shunned as silly and pretentious.

Fowler doesn’t speak of it; nor do Mencken, Safire or any other lexicographer presuming to tell people how to talk American. Landlubbers all. But stand on a dock or a deck anywhere between Barnegat Light and Newfoundland and listen to a few working seamen; pretty soon you'll hear the difference. It's "nor'west" and "sou'west," "no'theast" and "s’utheast" -- but NEVER EVER "nor'east" (Or, god forbid: "sou'east"). That counterfeit term should be reserved, if at all, for motels and drycleaners (as, indeed, one is so named in my town). You sound your "th" when the direction is easterly, and omit it when the wind blows from the west.

The distinctive pronunciation arose in the days of sail, when helmsmen needed to pass on commands in howling weather, and wanted to be sure to be clearly understood. "Nor'west" and "Nor'east" might sound the same when shouted along the iced up deck of a New Bedford scalloper or a Gloucester longliner beating home against a winter gale with a trip o’ fish; but "Nor'west" and "Nawtheast" would sound distinctly different.

So reader, if you have a care for good English and a concern for preserving regional tradition, stick to your guns and hang onto your "th."

Well, brave words, I suppose. The sheer repetition of the vile word by legions of chattering, blow-dried, weather people who don't know any better may in time drown out the few purists trying to hold back the sea. Indeed, I fear that was a northeaster-driven tide that old King Canute was trying in vain to stop in its tracks.

Tom Halsted is a freelance writer from Gloucester, Massachusetts. He has seen many a northeaster, but nary a nor'easter.

For more about the real thing, check out our two great storm books — Seven Superstorms of the Northeast and Great Storms of the Jersey Shore


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