I found this a long time ago. It is "How ta tawk rite" in the Gumbo Pages and thought that it would be a great thing to share. For your viewing pleasure! :)
ALGERIAN - Someone from Algiers (the only part of the
City of New Orleans to lie on the
West Bank). Some locals say
"Algereens", but we always
said Algerians. It's
funnier.
ALLIGATOR PEAR - Avocado.
ANYWAYS - And, then; and, so.
ARABIAN - Someone from Arabi, in St. Bernard
Parish. See "Algerian".
AWRITE - The appropriate response to the greeting
"Where y'at?"
Also, a greeting in and of itself:
"Awrite, Ed!"
AWRITE, HAWT - A female response of agreement.
AX - Ask.
BANQUETTE - The sidewalk. Pronounced . Usage fairly rare
nowadays.
BAT'TROOM - A room in the house where one doesn't find
bats, but where one bathes,
attends to the elimination of bodily waste, or locks oneself in and
cries until one gets one's way.
BERL - To cook by surrounding something in hot,
bubbling 212°F liquid; the
preferred method for cooking shellfish.
BINHAVIN, BEEN HAVIN' - To have had something for a
long time, as in ... Q: "How long
ya had dat dress? A: "Oh, I binhavin dat."
BINLOOKIN, BEEN LOOKIN' - To have searched for something for a long time, as in "I binlookin f'dat book."
BOBO - A small injury or wound.
BOO - A term of endearment, frequently used by parents
and grandparents for small children,
even small children who happen to be 40 years old ... Believed to be Cajun in origin.
BRA - A form of address for men, usually one with whom
you are not acquainted. Usually used in this manner: "Say, bra ..." The preferred term of address of SWEATS
.
BRAKE TAG - An inspection sticker on your car, proof
that you've passed the required
annual safety inspection. It
encompasses several areas of your car
(e.g., horn, wipers, etc.) but is primarily concerned with the integrity
of your brakes. Given the fact that New Orleans is
surrounded by various lakes,
rivers and canals, a bad set of brakes could mean that you might end up
at the bottom of one of those
bodies of water at the very least.
Throughout New Orleans
(although I'm not sure about other parts of Louisiana), the inspection sticker is called a "brake
tag". If it's expired and you
get pulled over, you're guaranteed
to get a ticket. (Believe me, I
know.)
BY MY HOUSE, BY YOUR HOUSE, etc. - Analogous to the
French terms "chez moi",
"chez toi", etc.
Usage: "He slept by my
house last night." "At" is never used in this
sense.
CAP - A form of address for men, usually ones with
whom you are not acquainted. Women generally do not use this
term. See also PODNA and BRA.
CATLICK - The predominant religion in New
Orleans. And, according to some
Baptists, all Hell-bound.
CEMENT - A standard English word, but with a special
pronunciation. Locals say , not .
CHALMETIAN, CHALMATION - Someone from Chalmette, a city
in St. Bernard Parish that's part
of the New Orleans "metro area". Occasionally used as
an insult. (Many New
Orleanians have a low opinion of Chalmette.) Out-of-towners often pronounce it with the hard
"ch" sound as in "charge". It's more like
or , and the city
is pronounced .
CHARMER - The quintessential female Yat. Pronounced
.
CHIEF, CHEEF - A form of address between men (usually
who have been in jail/prison), along the lines of "cap" and "podna".
COARDNER - Corner. As in, "I'm going down to the
coardner to get me a shrimp
po-boy." This is a contribution from native New Orleanian Powtawche
N. Williams, who says, "My
family in the 7th Ward uses it all the time." (I've never heard it, me ... but my family's from da 9th
Ward, so who knows?)
CUSH-CUSH, KUSH-KUSH, COUCHE-COUCHE - An old French/Cajun breakfast dish
my grandmother used to
prepare. The words rhyme with
"push", and it is prepared
by browning or searing cornmeal in an oil glazed pot till light brown,
then served hot with sugar and
milk in a bowl, just like cereal.
DA - The.
DAT - That.
DAWLIN' - A universal form of address. Women use it to refer to both
sexes, men use it toward women.
DEM - Them.
DERE - There.
As in "Dere ya go!", an expression of encouragement or
acknowledgement of having done
something for someone else.
DESE, DOSE - These, those.
DIS - This.
DODO, MAKE DODO - Sleep. From the Cajun French
"fais do do", or "make sleep". In Acadiana, the term "fais do do" is used for a
Cajun dance, and is thought to have
originated when the parents would tell their kids to hurry up and
"fais do do" so that they
could go to the dance; alternately, it's said that the hosts of the house dances (bals de maison) would have a
separate room for parents to put their small children, and the lady watching them would keep singing
lullabyes and saying "fais do
do" so that they could sleep amidst the din of the dancing Cajuns.
DOUBLOON - A coin, approximately the size of a silver
dollar, minted on a yearly basis
by the various Mardi Gras krewes.
The standard type is made of aluminum and they're thrown from Mardi Gras floats by the
parade riders. The distinctive
sound of a doubloon hitting da
cement is enough to start a mad scramble, where you're likely to trample on
an old lady, or alternately be trampled by an old lady.
Doubloons usually come in a variety of colors, and
collectors try not only to collect all
available colors, but also the exclusive krewe members-only versions
made of brushed aluminum, brass or
even silver. Doubloons have
traditionally been collected with great fervor and rabidity, but from what I can tell their
popularity has fallen off over the years.
Pronounced
, and the cries of "Da-BLOOOOON!!! Da-BLOOOOOOON!!!" can often be
heard along parade routes.
Unfortunately, the passion for catching doubloons and
for doubloon collecting seems to have
waned in recent years.
Seems people want cups, or those stupid long strings of beads,
rather than a nice, collectible
doubloon. I think it's a shame.
DOWN DA ROAD - A staple in the vocabulary of the St.
Bernard Parish Yat, along with up da road . This term is travel directions for
someone headed to lower St.
Bernard Parish traveling on St. Bernard Highway (US Highway 46). You are usually in da parish when you use this phrase with a
destination of either Violet or
Poydras. For
example: "Let's go down da
road and pass over by the trailah pawk."
DRESSED - When ordering a po-boy, "dressed"
indicates lettuce, tomatoes,
pickles and MYNEZ , on it. See NUTTINONIT
.
EARL, ERL -
1. A
vegetable product used for cooking, making roux, etc.
2. A
petroleum product used to lubricate the engine of your car.
3. Your
Uncle Earl. (Most New Orleanians
have an Uncle Earl; I do.)
ELLESHYEW - Louisiana State University, Baton
Rouge. Occasionally preceded by the term, "Go ta hell
..."
ERNGE, URNGE - An orange-colored citrus fruit.
ERSTERS, ERSTAS - Oysters.
ESPLANADE - Walkway. The street name is pronounced , and
the last syllable rhymes with
"raid", not "rod".
FAUBOURG - A suburb or outlying neighborhood, as in
Faubourg Marigny. Usually
pronounced by natives.
FLYIN' HORSES - Accented on the first syllable. A merry-go-round, sometimes specifically describing the
merry-go-round in City Park, but
also used in general. I've
never heard this term used outside of New
Orleans to describe a merry-go-round or carousel.
FOR - a preposition used by New Orleanians instead of
"at" or "by"
when referring to time. E.g., "Da parade's for 7:00, but we betta get dere for 6 if we wanna
find pawkin'." This one tends
to be particularly confusing to non-natives.
F'SURE! -
1. A
statement of agreement. See YEAH YOU RITE.
2. An
excellent (but out of print) book by local artist Bunny Matthews, featuring cartoons with
"actual dialogue heard on the streets of our metropolis".
F'TRUE - Pronounced . When phrased as a question, it means
"Is that so?" or "Ya kiddin'!!". When phrased as a
statement, it's an affirmation, a shortened version of "Nuh uh, I
ain't lyin' ta ya ..."
GAWD - A supernatural deity, worshipped by most New
Orleanians.
GO CUP - A paper or plastic cup for consumption of
alcoholic beverages out on the
street, as open glass containers (and cans too, I think) are
illegal. As a Bunny Matthews bartender character once said,
"Here, cap -- I gotta give ya dis beer in a cup, 'cos da City Council passed dis law sayin' I can go ta
Angola fa serving ya a beer in a
goddamn beer can ..."
Many non-New Orleanians are astonished that we can
drink out on the street in go cups.
When I left New Orleans, I was astonished that you can't do it anywhere else (which nearly got me arrested in
Los Angeles ... uncivilized savages.)
GOUT - Pronounced . French for "taste." Usually applied to coffee. As in, "You want a little gout?" Mostly old people are the only ones still saying this.
GRIP - A small suitcase, usually not a hard-shell one,
more like a schoolbag or an
overnight bag. Other locals have
used this to refer to all types of
suitcases. "Don't fo'get ya grip!", says ya mamma, as you're
leaving the house.
GRIPPE - The flu.
GRIS-GRIS - Pronounced . Noun, A (voodoo) spell.
Can be applied for
nefarious purposes ("to put a gris-gris on someone"), or as a force to ward off evil, like wearing
a gris-gris bag (the folks at the
Voodoo Shop on Dumaine will make one to order for about $20).
HAWT - A term of endearment used primarily by local
females.
HEY, BAY-BEE! - Pronounced
with the "BAY" drawn way
out. A greeting between any
two people of either gender.
HICKEY - A knot or bump you get on your head when you
bump or injure your head.
Everywhere else in the world a hickey is what you get on your neck after
necking. Not in New Orleans. See PASSION
MARK .
HOUSE COAT 'N CURLAS - The preferred dress for
charmers while shopping at
Schwegmann's.
HUCK-A-BUCKS or HUCKLE-BUCKS - Frozen Kool-Aid in a
Dixie cup. A way to keep cool during the summer. I had
never heard this term growing up, but
contributor Milton Cloutier from the 7th Ward says they used this term
in his neighborhood, and another
7th Warder, Darrel Schexnayder, adds even
more:
The term was very common for me growing up in the 7th
Ward. Neighbors would sell the frozen treats for a
nickel, along time ago. Sometimes we'd
make them ourselves. They
were as popular as "snow-balls" are/were to the rest of New Orleans.
There is even proper etiquette for eating huckle-bucks
(as I used to call them). The first thing you have to do after
paying your nickel/quarter or
whatever the cost:
1. Warm the sides until the frost is mostly gone 2. To
loosen the frozen berg from its Dixie cup confines by pushing up on the bottom of the cup. 3. Carefully flip
it over so that tapered-down bottom is up and out. There are three major advantages to this
technique -- (1) that's where to best
flavor resides; (2) easy access to the body of the flavored ice and
(3) some folks would wrap a coin
in Saran Wrap and place it at the bottom.
Musta been a 7th Ward thing. :-)
I'LL TAKE ME A ... - May I have a ...
INKPEN - A ball-point pen, or any kind of pen,
really. Always heavy emphasis
on the first syllable ...
"Lemme borra ya INKpen, awrite?"
INSURANCE - Pronounced .
JAMBALAYA - A rice-based dish containing meat and seafood, prepared in a nearly infinite
variety of ways by
Louisianians. The usual
out-of-towner mispronunciation has the
first syllable rhyming with "jam", when it should rhyme with "Tom" ...
, secondary accent on first syllable, primary accent on third. But one local pronunciation that was brought to my attention (although
nobody in my family said it this way)
is , primary accent of first syllable which
rhymes with "bum",
secondary accent on third syllable.
JAWN - The most popular boys' name in English,
pronounced this way among
Localese-speakers. Also, a
pot ta pee in. Rhymes with
"lawn". See TURLET .
K&B, KB, KB's - A local drug store for decades,
beloved by locals, whose trademark
color was a deep, violent purple.
Everything in KB was purple, from the price tags to the ink pens (and their ink) to the managers' and
cashiers' vests. In the old
days, K&B used to have lunch
counters and soda fountains, but these were all gone by the time I was in high school in the mid- to
late 70s. Also in the old days,
there were radio and TV jingles
for K&B, the lyrics of which were, "Look on every corner and what do
you see? A big purple sign that
says 'Your Friendly K&B!'"
In schoolyards, the lyrics were often changed to have the big purple sign say something
uncomplimentary and/or obscene.
"K&B" stands
for "Katz and Besthoff".
Alas, K&B is no more, having been bought out by
some vile Northern chain who changed
the chain's name to "Rite Aid" and got rid of the purple. I
will never shop there again under
any circumstances for as long as I live.
It's Walgreen's or Eckerd for me from now on.
"Streetcar" Mike Strauch has put up a K&B memorial page , with the background a
brilliant, beautiful K&B
purple (see below).
K&B PURPLE - A particular shade of purple that
you'll know if you know K&B.
Used in phrases like,
"He was so mad, his face was K&B purple", or, "I can't
believe ya bought dat ugly
car! It's K&B purple!"
LAGNIAPPE - Pronounced . A little something extra. Lagniappe is when your butcher
gives you a pound and two ounces of hot sausage but
only charges you for a pound, or
when the waiter at your favorite restaurant brings you an extra dessert or something, and doesn't
charge you. Lagniappe breeds
good will, friendship and most importantly,
return business. Also, "Lagniappe" is the name of
the entertainment pull-out section
of the Friday edition of The New Orleans Times-Picayune .
LOCKA - Where you hang your clothes, analogous to the
English word
"closet".
Example: "Mom-MAH! Where my shoes at?" "Looka in ya locka!"
(See LOOKA) Occasionally spelled
"locker", as if it was
proper English. Generally always
used in place of the word
"closet", but I must confess I have yet to hear this term used in the context of a gay or lesbian
person "comin' outta da locka
..." :^)
LOOKA - The imperative case of the verb "to
look". Usually accompanied by a pointing gesture. Often used as a single
exclamation:
"Looka!"
LOOKIT DA T.V. - To watch T.V. Locals don't watch T.V., they look at
it. Oh, and in proper Localese
form, it's pronounced , emphasis on the first syllable.
MAKE GROCERIES, MAKIN' GROCERIES - To do grocery
shopping. Thought to have originated with the French
expression for grocery shopping,
"faire le marché".
The verb "faire" can mean either "to do" or "to make", and the
idiom may have been mistranslated.
MARDI GRAS - This grand pre-Lenten celebration for
which New Orleans is famous is
pronounced .
MARRAINE - Pronounced . Your
godmother. Elsewhere the
terms "nanny" and
"nanan" (pronounced NAH-nan) are also used for godmother.
MAW-MAW - Ya grandma.
MIRLITON - A vegetable pear or chayote squash, which
grows wild in Louisiana and in
backyards throughout New Orleans.
Pronounced
, and wonderful when stuffed with shrimp and
ham dressing ... have a look at the
recipe .
MUFFULETTA - A quintessential New
Orleans Italian sancwich, of ham,
Genoa salami, mortadella, Provolone cheese and marinated olive salad on a round seeded Italian loaf. Invented at Central Grocery on Decatur in da Quarter. Locals pronounce this , and will tend to
just abbreviate it as
"muff". But if
you ask a member of the Tusa family (the
proprietors of Central), they'll pronounce it in elegantly proper
Italian as .
MYNEZ - Mayonnaise.
NEUTRAL GROUND - The grassy or cement strip in
the middle of the road. The terms "median"
and/or "island" are NEVER used in New Orleans. Use of one of those foreign terms instead of "neutral
ground" is a dead giveaway
that you ain't from around here, or anywhere close. If you're lucky, you live on a street with
a neutral ground big enough to
play football on.
NEW ORLEENS - The way silly tourists pronounce
"New Orleans".
Natives do not do this.
Exception -- song lyrics, as in "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New
Orleans", for example, and when omitting the "New", as in "Orleans Parish", which is
always pronounced
. Confusing, isn't
it? More on this below.
NUTTINONIT - A po-boy that is not dressed, which only
contains the main ingredient(s).
ON DA WES' BANK, ACROSS DA RIVUH, OVA DA RIVUH - On
the West Bank of the Mississippi
River, where such places as Algiers, Gretna and Marrero lie.
Interestingly, the West Bank is due south of New Orleans (except for Algiers, of
course). Make sense? Thought not.
OR WHAT - Pronounced , and placed at the
end of a question: "You
gonna finish eatin' dat, 'r what?"
OVA BY - A general replacement for the prepositions
"at" and "to",
particularly when referring to someone's home, or a destination in general. "Where ya goin'?" "Ova by ma mamma's."
PARISH - A Louisiana state administrative district,
analogous to the American
"county". When used by
locals in the phrase "da
parish", it generally means St. Bernard Parish specifically, which
is suburban to New Orleans.
PARRAINE - Pronounced . Your godfather.
PASS BY - To stop at a place, for a visit or to
accomplish something. "Ya gonna be home later? I'll pass by ya house." It doesn't mean just to drive by in your car and
keep going ...
PASSION MARK - The little red mark you get on your
neck (or elsewhere) after a passionate
session of necking. Called
a "hickey" or a "love bite" everywhere else, apparently.
Pronounced , of
course.
PECAN - A nut indigenous to the South, and beloved in
New Orleans as an ingredient in
pies and pralines. Pronounced
, not .
PO-BOY - The quintessential New Orleans lunch, a
sandwich on good, crispy New
Orleans French bread. This
definition doesn't begin to describe what
a po-boy is all about, so if you really don't know you need to get
one soon. Take a moment to read a little bit
about po-boys .
PODNA - A form of address for men, usually for ones
with whom one is not
acquainted. Frequently used
in the emphatic statement, "I tell you what, podna ..."
PRALINE - A sugary Creole candy, invented in New
Orleans (not the same as the French
culinary/confectionery term "praline" or
"praliné") The classic
version is made with sugar, brown
sugar, butter, vanilla and pecans, and is a flat sugary pecan-filled disk. Yummmmm. There
are also creamy pralines,
chocolate pralines, maple pralines, etc. Pecan pralines are the classic, though.
This is one of THE most mispronounced New Orleans terms of all.
It is ***N O T*** pronounced
.
It is pronounced . Got it? Good.
REGULAH COFFEE - Not "Black Coffee" as in
the rest of the country.
"Regular" includes lots of sugar and cream. To drink black coffee in New Orleans
will cause people to look at you as though you are from another planet. As a Café du Monde waiter was quoted in
a Bunny Matthews
"F'Sure!" comic strip, admonishing a tourist who had ordered black coffee, "Lissen cap ... I
gotta tell ya, nobody drinks dis kinda
cawfee black. So I ain't
responsible if ya have a hawt attack 'r sump'in ..."
SCHWEGMANN'S BAG - A unit of measurement. Approximately 3 cubic feet. Derived from local icon Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets, who until
recently had absolutely enormous
paper bags in which they packed ya groceries. (Now they have those stupid tiny flimsy plastic bags just like everyone else.) Usage: "Hey, did ya catch a lot at da parade?" "Yeah you rite ... a whole Schwegmann bag full!" The apostrophe-s is optional.
SHOOT-DA-CHUTE - A playground slide.
SHOW, DA SHOW - The cinema. The movie house.
The local motion picture emporium.
Where works of cinematic
art (or crappy flicks, depending) are shown. True New
Orleanians never say, "I went to the movies", they say "I
went to da show."
SILVER DIME - A small coin of U.S. currency, worth ten
cents. Always pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable,
, even though they haven't been made of actual silver for over 35 years.
SKEETA HAWK - Or, "mosquito hawk", the local
name for a dragonfly. I'm not
sure if this is particular to New
Orleans only, but since moving away I have never heard anyone else use the term.
SOSSIDGE - A meat preparation, made of various kinds
of ground meats, seafood and spices,
stuffed into a casing.
Usually spelled "sausage" by English speakers, but pronounced
in New Orleans as you see here,
always and not .
STOOP - Usually expressed as "da
stoop". The front steps to
your house, particularly if it's a
shotgun duplex. What ya go out and
sit on to chat wit'ya neighbas
(an' ta keep an eye on 'em). An
example, (partially taken from a
Bunny Matthews' "F'Sure!") strip:
"Turn on da A.C., Victa."
"Nuh uh, it ain't hot enough, it's still
May. Let's go out and sit on da stoop."
SUCK DA HEAD, SQUEEZE DA TIP - The technique for
eating crawfish. If you've never done this, have someone
demonstrate.
SUG - A term of endearment used primarily by Yat
females. Pronoucned with a soft
"oo" as in "book".
SWEATS - A sub-species of New Orleanian; early
teens to late 40s, even, with
unkempt appearance, dirty hair, heavy metal or biker t-shirts, droopy-eyed, low-intelligence, usually
stoned, occasionally hostile.
Preferred term of address, "Say, bra ..." Other terms for sweats, depending on your generation
and neighborhood, are
"loads" or "say-bras". In my day they were known to be fond of Cheech 'n Chong (which they pronounce CHEEK
an' Chong) movies at the
Chalmette, Lake Forest Plaza and Village Aurora Cinemas. Prone to ask brilliant questions
like, "Say bra ... what time da
midnight movie starts?" (This question was once actually asked of me, back when it was my lot in life to
have been an usher at the Village
Aurora Cinema in Algiers.
You can't make stuff like this up. And a new one was contributed by Gumbo Pages reader
Larry Beron: "A friend of
mine went to the Rally's at Vets
and Bonnabel in Metairie and overheard the driver of the car ahead of him ask the drive-up clerk, 'Say
bra ... how many meats y'all put
on them double-cheeseburgers?'")
"THROW ME SOMETHIN, MISTA!" - The
traditional (nay, required) request of a Mardi Gras paradegoer to a Mardi Gras parade rider, so that
the rider will shower said paradegoer with cheap trinkets like beads, doubloons or cups
(actually, the cups are highly coveted, more so than the doubloons are these days, apparently).
TURLET - Ya standard flushable porcelain waste
disposal unit found in every
bat'troom, referred to by English speakers as a "toilet". Also good for gettin' rid of
nasty food ya snuck away from da
table as a child (like ma mamma's roast beef ... yuck. That lady makes heavenly crawfish étouffée, but she just murders roast beef ...)
UPTOWN SIDE, DOWNTOWN SIDE, LAKESIDE, RIVERSIDE - The four
cardinal points of the New
Orleanian compass. "North,
south, east, west" do not
work in New Orleans.
VALISE - Suitcase.
VEDGEATIBBLE - Neither animal nor mineral. What ya mamma used to make ya eat before ya could leave the table
when ya were a kid. The word
has four syllables.
VIOLATION - A person from Violet, Louisiana, in St.
Bernard Parish. I've never heard this one before, but it's
hilarious. Contributed by Karen Schneider of the Southern
Yat Club .
WHERE YA STAY (AT)? - Where do you live?
WHERE Y'AT! - The traditional New Orleanian greeting, and the source for the term
"Yat", often used
(primarily by non-New Orleanians, it is said) to describe New
Orleanians with the telltale
accent. The proper response is,
"Awrite."
UMBRELLA - A standard English word, but with a special
pronunciation. We say
, not .
UP DA ROAD - Same as down
da road , only now you are
traveling in the opposite direction heading "up da road" to either Chalmette or Arabi.
WRENCH - To clean something under running water. "Aw baby, ya hands 'r filthy! Go wrench 'em off in da zink." See ZINK .
Y'ALL - The plural form of the second person verb,
"you all". It's not pronounced as they would in the south,
though -- no twang, no drawl, just
"y'all".
"You guys" is never said and is a dead giveaway that you're
a Tulane student from New Jersey.
YA - You, your.
YA MAMMA - Your mother. Used in a variety of ways, usually endearing. Also usable as
an insult, specifically as a simple retort when one is insulted first; simply say, "Ya
mamma." Be prepared to
defend yourself physically at this
point. I once saw my classmate
Vince G. beat the crap out of
someone (and someone a year older, at that) back in high school at Holy Cross for uttering this retort.
YAMAMMA'N'EM - A collective term for your immediate
family, as in "Hey dawlin',
how's yamamma'n'em?" Spoken
as one word.
YEAH YOU RITE - An emphatic statement of agreement and
affirmation, sometimes used as a
general exclamation of happiness.
The accent is on the first
word, and it's spoken as one word.
YEUHRM? - Do/Did you hear me? (Heard often at Schwegmann's.)
ZATARAIN'S - Pronounced . A local manufacturer of spices, seasonings, pickled products
and condiments. In context,
it's used by some as a generic
term for either crab boil or Creole mustard, as it "Put some Zatarain's on it," or "T'row a
coupla bags o' Zatarain's in da
pot." Context is important
here; you don't want to put Creole
mustard in a seafood boil.
ZINK - A receptacle for water with a drain and
faucets. Where ya wrench off
ya dishes or ya hands. See WRENCH .
A guide to the pronunciation of local place names
Some tourists come to New Orleans and, thinking that
they know some French, will puff
out their chests and pronounce local place names in a way that they think will help them fit in and
endear themselves to the natives ... only to have the natives look upon them
with pity and say, "Where ya
from, dawlin'?"
For instance, some people will note with delight that
we have streets named after the
Nine Muses of classical Greek mythology, but would probably have a seizure if they heard how we
pronounced them ("Calliope"
still kills me ...). And da
French names often ain't what dey seem.
Here's a list of the ways the natives pronouce some of
our our unique place names --
streets, cities and local features.
Some of you may find them
baffling, but don't think to ask why.
We probably don't know anyway.
Special note: If you're a student DJ at WTUL and you're not a native of New Orleans ... READ THIS AND LEARN
IT! Next time I hear one of y'all
butcher our street names on our
local airwaves, I'll pull your ribs out.
Okay, so ... if you really want to fit in, learn to pronounce things
like this:
ALGIERS POINT - You're likely to hear this pronounced
as
AUDUBON PARK - Avoid the French pronunciation (which
is a good general rule for most
New Orleanian place names) of with the nasal "N". The local will pronounce this PAWK>.
THE BIG EASY - Avoid uttering this phrase at all
costs. Under almost no circumstances would a native ever refer
to the City in this way. One major
(and baffling) exception: the local music and entertainment awards
are called The Big Easy Awards.
BONNABEL - A major street (and high school) in
Metairie. The proper
pronunciation is apparently
Bon-@-BELL, not BON-@-ble ... although most natives will pronounce it the latter way. I'm told it's a mispronunciation, to
wit:
Hi, I have a pronunciation for you to add to the
lexicon. I'm sure that my great-grandfather, Alfred Bonnabel,
will appreciate this.
Bonnabel is pronounced Bon-@-BELL, NOT
Bon-@-buhl. It is always mutilated on a regular basis and it
drives us nuts! At one point,
they had even mispelled one of the
exit signs on I-10 to read "Bonnable
Blvd."
An easy ay to remember is by thinking of my mother's
name. It is Bonnie Belle. Cute, no?
Thanks,
Teri Lippincott, daughter of Bonnie Belle Lacey
Lippincott
So saith the authority.
BURGUNDY STREET - Pronounced . Don't pronounce it like the wine.
BURTHE STREET - in Uptown New Orleans. Pronounced ... sounds like "youth" with a B
in front of it. Why? Beats the hell outta me.
I'm told the street is named after a person, but I don't know the details. I'm also told it's a French name, but it
surely wouldn't be pronounced like
that in proper French (as if any New Orleans street name is).
The local postmen know this pronunciation; apparently mail addressed to "Buth" or
"Buthe" Street gets
delivered just fine.
CADIZ STREET - Pronounced . In New Orleans, Spanish place names are butchered even woise den da
French ones ...
CALLIOPE STREET - Pronounced, believe it or not,
, and not
. No doubt
this particular Greek Muse is barfing
up her lunch over on Olympus ... However, the steam organ on the
riverboat Natchez that plays music
is, in fact, the .
Go figure.
CANAL - Usage is always "da canal". The Industrial Canal, one of New Orleans' main waterways, along with
"da lake" and "da river". I suppose some Metry-ites may use this
term to refer to the 17th Street
Canal. Also, Canal Street is the main
thoroughfare of the Central
Business District, and borders the French Quarter on the Uptown side.
CARONDELET STREET - Pronounced ,
not .
CHARTRES STREET - Pronounced or
.
CHEF MENTEUR HIGHWAY - Pronounced . Most people just say "da Chef". And although it's U.S. 90, it's not
really much of a highway anymore ...
"Da Chef" is actually pretty
depressing these days. When I-10 was completed through New Orleans in
the 60s, da Chef ceased to become
a main thoroughfare for travelers, and
gradually died. (And if da
Chef is dead now, one can only imagine how scary Old Gentilly Road must be by now ...) Five miles outside of eastern New Orleans on da Chef is the site of
the infamous Jayne Mansfield
decapitation.
CLIO STREET - Pronounced . Also sometimes, by some folks in da neighbahood, as
"CEE-ELL-TEN" ... I kid you not.
CONTI STREET - Pronounced .
DA QUARTER - The French Quarter, pronounced .
DAUPHINE STREET - Pronounced . Oddly enough, it's not unlike the actual French.
DECATUR SCREET - Pronounced , not
<'deck-@-TURE>. French
people have problems with this one.
DERBIGNY STREET - Pronounced or
you're a
really hardcore Nint' Wawduh.
DORGENOIS STREET - Pronounced ,
secondary accent on third
syllable.
DRYADES STREET - Pronounced .
DUFOSSAT STREET - Pronounced . A contributor writes, "When I was a kid I always
interpreted it as having to do with faucets."
EUTERPE STREET - Pronounced .
FONTAINEBLEAU - Pronounced as if spelled
"fountain blue".
IBERVILLE STREET - Pronounced ,
not .
LOYOLA - The hardcore local pronunciation of this is
.
MARIGNY STREET, FAUBOURG MARIGNY - Pronounced
, with the
"a" sounding like the "a" in "hat".
MAZANT STREET - Pronounced . Runs through the heart of Bywater in da Lowuh Nint' Ward. It's my family's old neighborhood;
my grandparents ran a little
neighborhood grocery store called Niedermeier's, which was on the corner of Mazant and Royal ... MAY-zant 'n
RERL!
MELPOMENE STREET - Pronounced .
METAIRIE - Standard New Orleanian pronunciation:
.
Hardcore local pronunciation: , as if it was spelled
(and sometimes is spelled),
"Metry". Announcers on
those mail-order product
commercials that are made for local products, but who are not aware of the correct pronunciation,
often pronounce it ,
much to to the amusement of the locals.
MILAN STREET - Pronounced
NEW ORLEANS - This is a sticky subject. As Tim Lyman mentioned above , there
are oodles of ways that the locals
pronounce the name of their beloved City.
Natives also seem to have
an instinctive grasp of what a proper pronunciation is, and can spot it in native speakers outside the City.
First off, is generally a
no-no. It's like putting a big, red neon sign on your head that
says, "I'm not from around
here." As also mentioned above, the two main exceptions are
when it's pronounced like that in
song lyrics (easier to rhyme, but
contributes to the confusion of non-natives) and when
"Orleans" stands alone
without the "New", as in Orleans Parish.
So of course, there are some exceptions to this
rule. I have on occasion
heard some African-American native
New Orleanians use the above pronunciation. I didn't say
this was going to be consistent or that it wasn't going to be confusing, did I?
Here are the major standard local pronunciations of
the City's name: , , AH-lee-@ns>, . The fabled
"N'Awlins", pronounced
, is used by some natives for amusement, and by some non-natives who think they're
being hip, but actually I've come
across very few locals who actually pronounce the name of the City
in this way.
Ben Fortson, an Uptown boy, adds, "There are also
versions without the final -s, as in Fats Domino's "walkin' to Noo
Awlin". The s-lessness is presumably from the French. Also, "Noo
Awyuns", with a -y- instead of an -l-, is pretty common in my experience,
and kind of interesting from a linguistic point of view. By the way, the
shorter versions like Nawlins and Nawlns that you say aren't used much by
locals have in fact been used at least by me all my life, for what that's
worth. Maybe Uptown is diff'rint."
(Yeah, it is, bra ... it's
where dey got all dem shoits wid da lil' gators on 'em, and everyone has
59 rows o' teeth!)
PLAQUEMINES PARISH - Pronounced .
PONTCHARTRAIN - Pronounced
locally. Or you can just say, "Da Lake".
POYDRAS STREET - Pronounced by truly
hardcore locals,
by everyone else.
PRYTANIA STREET - Pronounced .
THE RIGOLETS - Pronounced .
ROYAL STREET - Pronounced , to rhyme with
"pearl". A strong localese pronunciation.
SOCRATES STREET - In Algiers, across da river. Pronounced , like
the word "so" and the
word "crates". I kid you not.
TCHOUPITOULAS STREET - Pronounced <'chop-@-TOO-l@s>. It's easier to pronounce than to spell. Spelling "Tchoupitoulas" is the true test of a native; if New Orleans was a
country at war, you'd ask a guy to
spell this to make sure he was on your side, just like in all the old
WWII movies.
TERPSICHORE STREET - Pronounced .
THIBODEAUX - Pronounced .
TONTI STREET - Pronounced , with the
"o" sound as in
"box".
TOULOUSE STREET - Pronounced .
TUJAGUE'S - A venerable French Quarter restaurant,
highly recommended. However,
some tourists have expressed reticence to go to a restaurant whose name they can't pronounce. All such folks will do well to pronounce it .
TULANE - Pronounced . Never, ever
pronounce this , or
you'll immediately be mistaken for a college student from New Jersey.
Also, you're liable to have someone get in your face about it, like my brother-in-law Jeff
Willmon does when he hears this ...
"No.
If you're gonna come to my city,
and go to my school, you're gonna pronounce
it my way."
You tell 'em, bra.
UGLESICH'S - The best restaurant in the city? Some might say so. Certainly a must for any fan of New Orleans cooking. Anthony and Gail Uglesich operate this
tiny, atmosphere-free (but rich in
local color) restaurant that's only open weekdays until 4 (you don't wanna be on that part of Baronne Street after
dark, no). Pronounced
, although
I've heard some natives just call it "Ugly's".
VETERANS HIGHWAY - Hardcore locals pronounce this with
only two syllables ...
.
VIEUX
CARRÉ - Pronounced .
Literally means "old
square", and it means Da French Quarter, the site of Bienville's original New Orleans
settlement.
