[Ads-l] "The Red River Valley" (song; antedating to 1879)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Salt pork, salt beef, not worth a soldier's distinguishing.

Salt pork, however, was universally called "sowbelly."

JL

On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM James Landau <
00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> On  Sun, 20 Apr 2025 10:16:36 Zone-0400  Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> <quote>
> Bonnie, why should anybody have assumed that because a song is called "Red
> River Valley" it has anything to do with a brief, limited ethnic rebellion
> on the distant plains of Canada in 1869?
>
> <snip, or considering the following, maybe parsnip>
> ("Salt horse": the usual army and navy term for salt beef, a
> standardration.)
>
> <end quote>
> The 1869 Riel Rebellion or Red River Rebellion may have been "limited" but
> it has considerable importance in Canadian history.  Among other things, it
> helped create the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
> It is my understanding that Union soldiers were more likely to eat salt
> pork than salt beef, whereas Confederate soldiers more likely had salt
> beef.  I would guess that both sides referred to any salt meat as "salt
> horse".
> Also a battlefield tour guide once told me that salt beef was known as
> "blue beef" because after being stored for a while it turned blue.
>
> James Landau
> jjjrlandau at netscape.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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