Rocky Sez

I could not help but overhear the sometimes loud discussion on "Donner" vs. "Donder" at the choir Christmas party. Clearly, it takes a squirrel to straighten out this misunderstanding. You are all wrong.
The original poem "A Visit From St. Nicolas," credited to Clement Clark Moore but published anonymously in the New York's Troy Sentinel newspaper on December 23, 1823, named Santa's 7th and 8th reindeer "Dunder" and "Blixem." These are the Dutch words for "thunder" and "lightening," respectively. In 1837, publisher Charles Fenno Hoffman printed a version of the poem in which he changed the names to Donder and Blixen (rhymes with Vixen). After Moore claimed authorship (still disputed!) he published the poem in a book of his own verses in 1844. At that time he changed Dunder to Donder and Blixem to Blitzen. This version became the standard. Donder's rightful name has been colloquialized to "Donner" more recently. The fact that Johnny Marks used Donner in his ode to Rudolph is proof of either his German pedigree or his late night partying. And now you know the rest of the story. Sez me.