New Orleans: The "Un-South"? (Thibodaux, Martin: school, store, teacher)

[magicoz]

I'm sorry but what does Brazil have anything to do with Louisiana? Doesn't most of the "New World" have three races?

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by magicoz

I'm sorry but what does Brazil have anything to do with Louisiana? Doesn't most of the "New World" have three races?

Did you skip the past few posts?

[aab7855]

Living in Puerto Rico, I also find some vague similarities in the way of life, the attitudes of people, just the general flavor of the place. It has been said that New Orleans is the northernmost Caribbean city. Believe me, come down here and then travel to countries further south and you will get the same feeling.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by aab7855

Living in Puerto Rico, I also find some vague similarities in the way of life, the attitudes of people, just the general flavor of the place. It has been said that New Orleans is the northernmost Caribbean city. Believe me, come down here and then travel to countries further south and you will get the same feeling.

I've been to New Orleans, so I could understand. I have family there.

Interesting that you mention Puerto Rico. There are a group of people in Louisiana called Islenos. They are the descendants of people who immigrated from the Canary Islands of Spain. Some still speak Spanish. The Spanish that they speak sounds somewhat similar to Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico.

[green_mariner]

To me, New Orleans is this. Geographically, it is like Amsterdam and Venice. Alot of canals and constantly under siege from nature. Somehow, it keeps existing. Culturally, it feels like a mix of Brazil and the Francophone portions of the Caribbean(Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe). Architecturally, it is like the Caribbean, French, and Mediterranean styles. New Orleans is many things to many people. To me, it is like this place unlike anything else. It is in the South. It's considered Southern. However, it is like something else. Nothing like I've seen anywhere else. It has even been called Hoboken on the Gulf(more to do with the Yat dialect that is considered similar to the Brooklyn dialect).

[magicoz]

Actually Haiti is not "Francophone", but it is an ex-French colony. Haitians speak Creole which is an African language, not a dialect of French. Martinique and Guadeloupe are both still French colonies and yes they are Francophone.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by magicoz

Actually Haiti is not "Francophone", but it is an ex-French colony. Haitians speak Creole which is an African language, not a dialect of French. Martinique and Guadeloupe are both still French colonies and yes they are Francophone.

Louisiana also has its own version of Creole.

[magicoz]

You know what else is strange about the Italo-Philadelphian accent? They pronounce "dee" as "day" and "day" as "dee".

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by magicoz

You know what else is strange about the Italo-Philadelphian accent? They pronounce "dee" as "day" and "day" as "dee".

Even more interesting, Louisiana(and specifically New Orleans) had more Italians than any other place in the USA before Ellis Island opened up. The Italians came in through New Orleans. http://www.jstor.org/pss/4232474

Yat dialect(which sounds very close to the northeastern working class dialect) developed from alot of Italians, Irish, and other immigrants in the New Orleans area.

[magicoz]

Strangely a lot of the Irish Americans (born here) in my area still have an Irish-sounding accent. But the Irish accent seems a lot more American than British, not counting spelling. In fact I think it would be most appropriate to compare it to a Canadian accent. Perhaps this is because the Irish never really spoke English until around the same time as the American Revolution. I'm not sure why or how the Irish/Gaelic language really started to die out.