A storm by any other name might be as annoying, but it’s certainly made worse when the weather stooges have to say “nor’easter” every few minutes. Guys, guys, you’re not a bunch of longliners out of Gloucester, Mass. You’re Philadelphia weathermen, and you’re wearing makeup.

I would be perfectly happy being the only curmudgeon on this topic, but it turns out that I’m not alone. Edgar Comee, self-appointed chairman (and lone member) of the Ad Hoc Committee for Stamping Out Nor’easter was featured in The New Yorker and was known to send out petitioning postcards to the media, saying:

“The use of nor’easter to describe a northeast storm is a pretentious and altogether lamentable affectation, the odious, even loathsome, practice of landlubbers who would be seen as salty as the sea itself.”

Indeed, even Mark Liberman, Trustee Professor of Phonetics at the University of Pennsylvania recommends that nor’easter be a charter member on a list of The 100 Most Inauthentic Pronunciations in his January 24, 2004 Language Log entry, “Nor’easter Considered Fake.”

Irregardless (ha ha ha), this unusual October weather is pretty awful. After a long day at work yesterday, Jen and I drove to the shore to strip the canvas off of Fortuitous in the dark. It’s not how I expected to break out the toque and gloves this year, but there were forecasts of wind gusts in the mid-60s earlier in the week, and while they had backed off those numbers a bit as the week progressed, I felt more comfortable removing our flaked and furled sails to reduce windage. We actually remembered to use the deck light this time, and with that and our headlamps, were were able to make quick work of it.

We’re being spared the worst of the heavy snow today and no accumulation is expected for the shore which is fortunate since our boat’s still uncovered. Still, it’s cold and windy at the homestead and there’s a half-inch of sleet on the ground, and I imagine it’s not a good sailing day on the bay. Best wishes to any other sailors in the nor’east who might have also been pushing their seasons.

 

"Prepare to fend off the bridge abutment."