As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of "Soundings" magazine, use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast. Yet it has been asserted by linguist Mark Liberman (see below) that "nor'easter" as a contraction for "northeaster" has no basis in regional New England dialect; the Boston accent would elide the "R": "no'theastuh. He describes nor'easter as a "fake" word. However, this view neglects the little-known etymology and the historical maritime usage described above.