New Orleans-Speak

When you love a city and visit it often, you want to know about it and understand it. You want to fit in and not look or sound like a tourist.

Even though New Orleans is located in the United States, it has it's own language. Words that mean different things to them, than it does to the rest of the U.S. or maybe words that are the same, just pronounced differently. Either due to their French or Spanish influence or just because.

Here are a few I've learned...

Definitions

Vieux Carré - Pronounced (VOO ka-RAY). Literally means "old square", and it means Da French Quarter, the site of Bienville's original New Orleans settlement

Neutral ground - the strip of land between the two sides of a divided street. The streetcars often run on the neutral ground.

Banquette - the sidewalk. Pronounced (BANK-it)

Dawlin' (the rest of the U.S. knows this word as "darling") a universal form of address.

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.

Which brings us to our next definition...

Dressed - When ordering a po-boy, "dressed" indicates lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and MYNEZ (mayonnaise), on it. If you don't want the aforementioned, then order your sandwich plain (not naked!)

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.

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 %@#*&#@ beer can ..."
Many non-New Orleanians are astonished that you can drink out on the street in go cups.

Lagniappe - Pronounced (LAN-yap). A little something extra.

Parish - A Louisiana state administrative district, the rest of the United States has "counties".

Praline - A sugary Creole candy, invented in New Orleans. The classic version is made with sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and pecans, and is a flat sugary pecan-filled disk. Now this is one of the most mispronounced New Orleans terms of all. It is NOT , they are pronounced . Also these delicious candies are made with , not . So make sure you get that one right!


Pronunciations

"d" sound replaces "th" ...as in that, there, those, them, the becomes dat, dere, dose, dem and da.

Many "oy" or "or" sounds become "er" sounds. Examples: Ersters - Oysters, Ernge - Orange and Erl - Oil. This also applies to street names Royal and Poydras. (see below)

Street names are a challenge here and a sure sign you're a tourist if you don't get dem right.

Esplanade - (es'-pl@-NADE), and the last syllable rhymes with "raid", not "rod"
Charters Street - Pronounced (CHAW-t@s) or
Carondelet Street - Pronounced (k@-'ron-d@-LET), not (k@-'ron-d@-LAY)
Burgundy Street - Pronounced (bur-GUN-dee). Don't pronounce it like the wine.
Orleans Street - Pronounced (or-LEENS)
Conti Street - Pronounced (CON-tye)
Dauphine Street - Pronounced (daw-FEEN)
Iberville Street - Pronounced (IB-ber-'vil), not (EYE-ber-'vil)
Poydras Street- Pronounced (PER-dr@s) by truly hardcore locals. This is an important street, since this is where you get one of the best Po'boys in New Orleans at a restaurant called Mother's.
Tchoupitoulas Street- Pronounced ('chop-@-TOO-l@s)
Toulouse Street - Pronounced (TOO-loose)
Royal Street - Pronounced (RERL), to rhyme with "pearl". A strong localese pronunciation.