Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Hurricane deck

 I was ignorant as to what hurricane deck meant when I first heard it, and if not for the venue in which the term came up, I would've guessed it was a nautical term. But since hurricane deck was mentioned at the recent Western Writers of America (WWA) conference in South Dakota, I deduced it had more to do with cowboys riding the wide-open ranges than shipboard life....

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According to my hardcopy of Dictionary of the American West by Win Blevins, hurricane deck is "the saddle of a bucking horse." (Blevins then adds that this is a "nicely descriptive term," leading me to guess he has some experience with this particular phrase!) Green's Dictionary of Slang lists an early appearance of hurricane deck, meaning "the back of a horse or mule," in 1864's Down in Tennessee by Edmund Kirke.

Yee-haw, and hang on tight!
Image by gay2016 from Pixabay

... Now I've not ridden a bucking horse (thank goodness... I'm sure I'd be flat on the ground in no time), but I definitely felt like I was "riding high" when I received the WWA Spur Award for best traditional novel for the eighth book in my Silver Rush series, The Secret in the Wall. I am honored to have been chosen for this award. 

Thank you, WWA!

... You can view a list of all the winners and finalists here ...

A near-speechless Ann Parker receiving the Spur Award from Spur committee chair Bob Yoho.
Photo by Johnny Boggs