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Old 05-08-2010, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,835,634 times
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The pronunciation used to be a sign of social class/education. new Or'-lee-uns and met'-a-ree for more educated folks and the other stuff for les educated folks. Not sure how that breaks down today but it was true at least up to 1990.
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Old 05-08-2010, 08:36 PM
 
Location: New Orleans, LA
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I hear a ton of younger people use the phrase "Metry brah" or "Kennah brah" as an answer to "where ya stay at?" I'm younger, I use it, I think it's kind of cute. The servers at a bar my husband and I frequent wear shirts that say "Lagers, Metry Brah" on them.
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Old 05-09-2010, 08:00 PM
 
Location: New Orleans, United States
4,230 posts, read 10,488,704 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mhounit View Post
That's funny , cuz my Mother's family is from New Orleans and the surrounding area and none of them pronounce it that way .
You do realize how many different dialects there are in N.O. right? Ask somebody to repeat something 10 times and you'll get at least 5 different pronounciations for each word. I myself don't say Metry, but many do young and old. Like SouthernBelle said, back in the day it used to be based on social class. Now it's just all mixed up.
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Old 07-06-2010, 11:14 AM
 
268 posts, read 744,162 times
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Sorry to top this, but this almost could be a sticky. I grew up there, but nothing ever made me
laugh more than the utter destruction of the names of the muses, Calliope, Terpsichore. Melpopene,
and to a much lesser degree, Clio, Thalia, Erato, Euterpe, and a few that are not streets to my knowledge.
Not even sure about Euterpe, but it sounds possible. But if you can make Tchoupitoulas happen, you can
certainly handle these others.

As for Metry, I lived there continuously from 2 to 17, and it never hit me that Metry Cab was a clever
usage of words. I just thought it was a strange name for a company, but not altogether so. Then
one day long after my time in the service and college, it hit me like a ton of bricks. That was a funny day.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:02 PM
 
Location: Way up north :-)
3,037 posts, read 5,930,339 times
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I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get the hang of it. I'll just have to keep visiting and MOVE there.

So, Tremmy or TremAY? We usually heard it pronounced as the latter, but a buddy of ours said no-one he knows pronounces like that. He's the only one I've ever heard who says "Tremmy" though.
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Old 07-06-2010, 11:22 PM
 
Location: Kentucky
307 posts, read 803,070 times
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I've heard "TremAY" from the NOLA natives at work.

One pronunciation I'm not sure of...Bonnet Carre. I've read that Vieux Carre is pronounced "Voo Cuh-ray", but everybody I've heard at work pronounces Bonnet Carre "Bonnet Care". Which is it?
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Old 07-07-2010, 01:01 AM
 
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Treme is definitely pronounced tremay. ive liver here my whole life and no one calls it tremmy.
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Old 07-07-2010, 05:57 AM
 
Location: New Orleans, LA
310 posts, read 854,905 times
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Another "vote" for tre-MAY . "Tremmy" is bound to get your friend laughed out of town! Okay, not really but he would get chuckled at pretty hard.

If you listen to the news and people who live closer to the Bonnet Carre Spillway, you'll hear it pronounced "bonny carry." I've heard "bonnet care", though so I'm not sure what's really correct. I'm only a few miles from the spillway so it's always been "bonny carry" to me .
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Old 07-07-2010, 08:26 AM
 
Location: Metairie, LA
1,097 posts, read 2,341,098 times
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"Tremmy"

Mother in Law says Nu-aw-lee-ans. Bugs the crap out of me.
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Old 07-07-2010, 10:47 AM
 
268 posts, read 744,162 times
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Trem-AY, no doubt about it.
And as a St. Charles former resident, it's Bonna-CARRY.
Hell, at least for me, lol.
And I always said view cuh-RAY.
oops, forgot...new OR-lins.

But that's how that "nawlins" stuff got started, you hear
ALL THE TIME, new AW-lins and new AW-lee-ins. And it's
correct for that area. But nawlins never ever has and never
will be, lol.
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