Despite what the Rudolph movie would have you believe, the name is Donder, not Donner.

The poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas," better known as " Twas the Night Before Christmas, " by Clement C. Moore, was written more than a century before anyone created the story of Rudolph. Moore gave the original list of the eight reindeer, and the name is Donder.

https://twasthenight.org/poem/

" . . . More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; “Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN! On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”"

Oh, no! My childhood was all a lie.

Well then, if we’re going to insist on the original Dutch for thunder and lightning, it should be Donder and Bliksem.

At least it wasn't "Dander". The crap really shows up on a red suit.

I like to say no knowledge is ever useless, but this comes pretty close.

For some reason Clem Moore’s autocorrect changed Donner to Donder. Donner und Blitzen are Thunder and Lightning in German, as the OP I’m sure knows well. I rest my case.

Donder got changed to Donner when Ze Germans got a hold of it.

Sure. Next thing you are going to tell us is that on The 12 Days of Christmas I was supposed to get five ringed pheasants? I can't take birds to the pawn shop.

Dunder and Blixem from the original 1823 publication.

Based on an Internet translator and my German/English dictionary, Blitzen means “flash,” as in flashbulb, not lightning. Blitz is lightning, but of course the “en” of Blitzen is necessary to make it rhyme with Vixen. Left alone in the Dutch, none of that would have been necessary.

Ah, the things we learn here.

Where I grew up, they were "Hey You, Who'se it, What's it, Whatchamacallit, Git, Scram, Sunovabitch, and Dammit!"

quote:

Originally posted by ShneaSIG:
Where I grew up, they were "Hey You, Who'se it, What's it, Whatchamacallit, Git, Scram, Sunovabitch, and Dammit!"

I thought those were your siblings.

Its 'Donner.' Here's the documentation:

It's like, Santa Claus used ta have this really charp chort, man, y'know? It was lowered to da ground, had twice-pipes, candy-apple red and button top. Oooo, clean!
TC: Hey, that sounds like a hip snowmobile, man.
CM: No, no, it wasn't a snowmobile; it was a sled, y'know. One of those big sleds, y'know? And he used ta have it pulled by some reindeers, y'know, like, reindeers?
TC: Some what, man?
CM: Some reindeers, y'know. He used ta hook them onto da sled and then he used ta stand up inside da sled and hold on to da reins and then call out their names, like, "On Donner! On, Blitzen! On Chewy! On Tavo! C'mon, Becto!" And then, the reindeers used ta take off into da sky and fly across da sky, man!
TC: Wow, man! That's far out, man!

Yeah! And then, when they flied across da sky, they used ta come down to places like, oh, Chicago, L.A., Nueva York and Pacoima and all those places, y'know, and then land on top of people's roofs and then 'ol Santa Claus would make himself real small, y'know, like, a real small guy, and he'd come down da chimney and then he would give you all da stuff that he made, man. And... dig this, man... he did it all in one night, man!
TC: Hey, just a minute, man. Now, how'd he do that, man?
CM: Oh, well, man, he took da freeway. How else, man?
TC: No, man. No, man, how'd he do all that other stuff, man? Like, how'd he make himself small, man. And, how'd he, like, how'd he get the reindeer off the ground, man?
CM: Oh, well, man, he had some magic dust, man.
TC: Some magic dust?
CM: Yeah, magic dust, y'know? He used ta give a little bit to da reindeer, a little bit to Santa Claus, a little bit more for Santa Claus, a little bit more...
TC: And this would get the reindeer off, man?
CM: Aw, got 'em off, man? Are you kidding, man? They flew all da way around da world, man!
TC: Hey, that's far out, man! Hey, how come I've never met this dude, man?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tb4ck9AY_Y

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by ShneaSIG:
Where I grew up, they were "Hey You, Who'se it, What's it, Whatchamacallit, Git, Scram, Sunovabitch, and Dammit!"

I thought those were your siblings.

Some of them are cousins!

What about Olive the other Reindeer?

Well, there goes the party...

quote:

Originally posted by detroit192:
What about Olive the other Reindeer?

Oh, boo, hiss!
I’d never heard that one before (and I just figured it out), but now I’m stuck with it.

According to Wikipedia and the book of Hoyle

It all depends whether you are reading the book or singing the song.

I get what the OP stated.

In "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the names Donner and Blitzen are correct.

"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen"

I suppose the songwriter took artistic freedom.

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer lyrics

So boys and girls what we were taught as we grew up is actually correct as well. We sang the song more than we read the book. Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief.