"Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]

Geoffrey Nathan geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU
Wed Jan 20 15:06:46 UTC 2010 

I put the 'n' in (although I'd never noticed it in the song, which has been covered by others, notably Judy Collins, incidentally) mostly because all copies of the lyrics I could find online had it.

It's tricky looking up lyrics online because many of the Google hits seem to wind you up at iffy sites that I'm rather wary of (I actually am an IT Security professional in my other life--I don't just play one on TV).

http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/K/kingstontriolyrics/kingstontriosomedaysoonlyrics.htm

http://www.roughstock.com/cowpie/songs/s/suzy-bogguss/someday-soon

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
+1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)

----- "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:43:37 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: "Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The final "n" heard in "blue northern" could be a barely enunciated
> "and."
>
>  JL
>
> On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 9:32 AM, Bill Palmer
> <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrot=
> e:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > I loved the Ian & Sylvia song you just excerpted, Geoff. And it's
> the onl=
> y
> > time I've ever heard the expression "blue norther" (sans "n", I
> believe, =
> if
> > I was hearing it right).  I never knew Ian's surname, BTW, so
> thanks.
> >
> > Never spent any time in the NW, so I wonder if "blue norther" is a
> common
> > term there.
> >
> > Bill Palmer
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Geoffrey Nathan" <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:14 AM
> > Subject: Re: "Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]
> >
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > > header -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> > > Subject:      Re: "Blue Northern" [was "Nor'easter"]
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >
> > > Some of you may remember the use of the phrase "Blue Norther" in
> Ian
> > > Tyson's _Someday Soon_:
> > >
> > > So blow, you old Blue Northern, blow my love to me
> > > He's ridin' in tonight from California
> > > He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me
> > > Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon
> > >
> > > Clearly also a wind, but not associated with the Northeast.  I'm a
> litt=
> le
> > > surprised that everyone didn't simply know that a Nor'easter was a
> majo=
> r
> > > snowstorm that rolls up the east coast, hitting New York, Boston,
> Maine
> > > and then the Maritimes.  I thought it was just standard English.
> > Certainly
> > > CNN and The Weather Channel use the term all the time.  Here's a
> > > definition:
> > >
> > > http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/noreast.html
> > >
> > > The word is polysemous for me, simultaneously meaning simply a
> wind fro=
> m
> > > the North-East, and in that case it has no specific latitude and
> > > longitude.
> > >
> > > Geoff
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Geoffrey S. Nathan
> > > Faculty Liaison, C&IT
> > > and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
> > > +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
> > > +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)
> > >
> > > ----- "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > >
> > >> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > >> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 8:37:19 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> Easter=
> n
> > >> Subject: Re: "Nor'easter" -- missing definition? and an
> antedating
> > >>
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> Subject:      Re: "Nor'easter" -- missing definition? and an
> > >> antedating
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >>
> > >> Has anybody here been to sea or know anyone who's been to sea
> and,
> > >> therefore, might know what contemporary seafarers, at least, say?
> I
> > >> read Jan freeman's Boston Globe article, which, for me, is the
> last
> > >> word on the subject of the *word* _nor'easter_.. As it happens,
> I
> > >> have
> > >> a brother who spent years on an aircraft carrier and, later, on
> a
> > >> destroyer, as both EM and officer. Unfortunately it has never
> > >> occurred
> > >> to me , before now, to ask him about the nor[th]easter, he being
> of
> > >> somewhat-waspish temperament, with nothing much more than
> contempt
> > >> for
> > >> the ignorance of others.
> > >>
> > >> IME from living in Boston, I consider a "nor[th]easter" to be a
> > >> full-blown (no pun intended) storm and not merely a wind.
> However, I
> > >> have no vested interest in this. So, it's fine with me, if
> others
> > >> choose to believe otherwise.
> > >>
> > >> WRT "blue norther," Kelli's mention of this storm is the only
> other
> > >> time that I've come across it, since that time when Sky King and
> his
> > >> sidekicks were trapped by a snow-bearing one in an episode of the
> old
> > >> radio show, back in the '40's. There's nothing like that in East
> > >> Texas, just eye-blasting, eardrum-shattering thunderstorms.
> > >>
> > >> There was an odd local(?) belief: if you made any kind of loud
> noise
> > >> during such a storm, you would call down the lightning onto
> wherever
> > >> it was that you were sheltering. I recall talking in whispers
> and
> > >> walking on tip-toe, during such storms. As a child, I really
> wanted
> > >> to
> > >> see whether a thunderbolt could actually set a house afire, when
> it
> > >> was pouring down rain. So, I always kinda hoped that some
> neighbor
> > >> would make a loud noise and cause his house to be struck by
> > >> lightning,
> > >> so that I could see whether the crib would consequently burn to
> the
> > >> ground, despite all the water falling from the sky.
> > >>
> > >> -Wilson
> > >>
> > >> On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> > >> wrote:
> > >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > >> > Subject:      Re: "Nor'easter" -- missing definition? and an
> > >> antedating
> > >> >
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >> >
> > >> > At 1/19/2010 01:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >> >>Literary? Then how explain customary nautical pronunciations
> > >> "nor'east,"
> > >> >>"nor'west," "nor'nor'west," etc.?
> > >> >
> > >> > The highly-educated seamen and fishermen of pre-colonial,
> colonial,
> > >> > and early Republic New England?  :-)
> > >> >
> > >> > Joel
> > >> >
> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> -Wilson
> > >> =EF=BF=BD=EF=BF=BD=EF=BF=BD
> > >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=EF=BF=BD=EF=BF=BDa
> stra=
> nge complaint
> > >> to
> > >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > >> =EF=BF=BDMark Twain
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -------
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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