norther

[Charles Doyle]

Having grown up in Texas, I am so familiar with the meteorological term "norther" that I never thought to wonder whether the various singers who have performed Ian Tyson's "Someday Soon" were saying "norther" or "northern."

For what it's worth, a carefully edited, scholarly book by Michael Allen, _Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination_ (Reno: U of Nevada P, 1998) 132, quotes the line in question as "So blow you old blue norther," citing Ian and Sylvia's album "Northern Journey" (Vanguard 1964).

Of course, the scholar was simply quoting what he heard, not what might have appeared in written lyrics.

--Charlie

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