New Orleans pronunciation... (to live, car, place)

[leorah]

I remember once when we were exploring LA, my husband said he thought we should visit Natchitoches; because of its historical importance he thought I'd find it interesting. I pulled out the map but couldn't find it anywhere. When I said in frustration that it wasn't on the map, he was very amused and finally told me how it was spelled.

We'd been in Nacogdoches, TX a few days before, so I was very confused!!

[Drouzin]

Alligator the French are confused when they visit here. They are baffled as to why we say things like, "I've got boo-coo (beaucoup - correctly prounced bo coo) french fries on my potato sandwich!" I guess we've had almost 300 years of either murdering the pronuciations/grammer or perhaps it's retaining the dialect from 300 years ago. There is such a mish-mash here. For example, it's kind of like saying, "making groceries," where it sounds like really poor English, but I'm told that it's the gramatical way French speakers say, "getting groceries," which was retained while the French was dropped.

I remember when I worked at the airport the poor elderly French couple who struggled to have a conversation with the old Cajun guy who worked there. I was so thrilled to match them up to have a conversation and both parties had trouble understanding one another. The old Cajun struggled to get his point across and told me that they probably thought his French was horrible. A friend from Ville Platte who spoke both Cajun and regular French later told me that when he went to France his new friends would get a kick out of him speaking Cajun because it was so different.

[notasmoker]

And LAN-YAP for lagniappe (something extra for free).

[CMMom]

I lived in NOLA for a year, and one of my favorites was Calliope St. It's not pronounced "kuh-lie-oh-pee," it's "cal-ee-ope" (rhymes with mope). That always cracked me up.

[Lasgambler]

This Thread makes me Homesick,


Signed, "Stuck in the Desert"

[quiet walker]

Used to travel frequently for work to the shipyard in Pascagoula MS in the 1980's. The only motel there was infested with roaches and while you were away, the staff would steal your stuff. So we stayed in pre-casinos Biloxi. Drove over the "galloping bridge" and through Ocean Springs and Gautier to the yard.

Now there's nothing a road warrior loves more than a friendly place with good food for mealtime. And the south and gulf coast have lots of wonderful buffets. Folks at the yard told me about a fine one in "go shay" that was supposed to be on our route but I couldn't find it. After a couple of days, they helped me find the place I had been calling "gow tee er"

Also when getting my plane tickets, the northern agent would correct me when I said "bil ux ee" They would say, incorrectly "bil ox ee"

[ajs5mz2]

See my thread: How ta tawk rite - A Lexicon of New Orleans Terminology and Speech

[bornonthebayou]

i grew up just south of New Orleans and a number of the above responses were correct...i've also thrown in a few extras for good measure:

Vieux Carre is pronounced IN NEW ORLEANS as "voo car ay"
Burgundy is pronounced "bur GUN dee"
Esplanade is pronounced "esplah-NADE" with the long A...
Lafayette is pronounced "laffy-ette"
Calliope is pronounced "cali-OPE"
Chartres is pronounced "charters" (or if yer really a local, "CHAW-tiss")

and most importantly, it isn't "new or-LEENS"...its "neworlins", with no discernable pause between the words...

[Prytania]

I agree with everything except for Carondelet. People say LET instead of LAY when they say it even through its the last name of a man who was a Spanish colonial governor. LET always sounds redneck and ignorant...

[mhounit]

Originally Posted by Prytania

I agree with everything except for Carondelet. People say LET instead of LAY when they say it even through its the last name of a man who was a Spanish colonial governor. LET always sounds redneck and ignorant...

Regardless of how it sounds to YOU , that's how they pronounce it . And it's not going to change anytime soon .