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Learn New Orleans Lingo With Comm Bayle Goldman!

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 In one week, SWUSY will be celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans! Get to know some popular lingo below so you can sound like a native next week!

  • Ball (bal masque, tableau ball)- A Mardi Gras krewe’s formal event and dance
  • Banquette (ban’ ket)- Sidewalk–French meaning a small bank along the road
  • Bayou (by’ you)- Slow stream, or body of water running through a marsh or swamp.
  • Beaucoup Crasseux (boo coo cra sue)- Translated: very dirty
  • Big Easy– “The Big Easy” became the official nickname for New Orleans after a contest was run years ago.
  • Bourre (BOO ray)- Translated: A French card game. “Wildly popular way to gamble on the old riverboats, and still is among Cajuns.
  • Cajun (kay’ jun)- French Acadians who settled here after immigrating from Canada.
  • Camelback (cam’ l bak)- A single row house with the back half made into a two-story. The front section remains a single.
  • Captain– Leader of a Carnival organization.
  • Carnival- The party season before Mardi Gras. Starts on January 6 (Twelfth Night). Celebrated with king cakes at Mardi Gras parties.
  • Cayoodle– A mixed breed dog.
  • Cher– New Orleans Translation: An expression many use when greeting another. A term of affection meaning “dear” or “love”
  • Chute-the-chute- Playground slide.
  • Crescent City– A nickname for New Orleans, originating from the shape of the Mississippi River as it bends around the city.
  • Creole (cree’ ole)- Descendents of French, Spanish, and Carribean slaves and natives; has also come to mean any person whose ancestry derives from the Caribbean’s mixed nationalities.
  • Den– Mardi Gras float warehouse.
  • Doubloons (duh bloons’)- Aluminum coins stamped with a parade krewe’s insignia and theme.
  • Do-do (dough dough–not du-du!)- In New Orleans, it’s a cute word children use when tired and sleepy (from the French “to sleep”: dormir).
  • Dressed– Sandwiches served with lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise: “the works” (and, of course…the way those with class catch their Mardi Gras throws!).
  • Fat City– A region of Metairie (see below) and a popular place to party during Mardi Gras, originating from the term Fat Tuesday (the literal translation of Mardi Gras).
  • “Fixin’ to”– About to
  • Flambeaux (flam’ bo)- Lit torches historically carried during night parades.
  • “Four Major Points on the NO Compass”– Of course the four major points on the NO compass are: Lakeside, Riverside, East Bank, and West Bank (over which the sun rises every day!)
  • Gallery (galllll rreeeee)- Balcony–walkway outside of homes on the second floor.
  • GNO– Greater New Orleans area.
  • Gris gris (gree gree)- Voodoo good luck charm
  • Gumbo Ya-Ya– Translated: everybody talking all at once; i.e., at a loud party.
  • Hurricane Party– What some residents do after securing their houses for a hurricane: throw a party! (If it’s safe to stay, that is!) Get some snacks, drinks, and buddies, and hunker down to watch the TV news give hurricane updates! Hurricane is also the name of a famous New Orleans drink. Be careful; they sneak up on you.
  • “It don’ madda”– Translated: “It doesn’t matter.”
  • King cake– Extra-large oval doughnut pastry dusted with colored candied sugar. A plastic baby doll is hidden inside the cake–the lucky person who gets the piece of cake with the doll inside (and doesn’t break a tooth or swallow it in the process!) buys the king cake for the next party of the Mardi Gras season.
  • Krewe (crue)- A Carnival organization’s members.
  • Lagniappe (lan’ yap)- Something extra that you didn’t pay for–thrown in to sweeten the deal–like a baker’s dozen.
  • Laissez les bons temps rouler (Lazay Lay Bon Tom Roulay)- Let the good times roll.
  • Lundi Gras– The day before Mardi Gras, when King Rex and King Zulu arrive on the riverfront.
  • Mardi Gras- Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent…The day to celebrate before the traditional Catholic tradition of sacrificing and fasting during the 40 days of Lent.
  • Maskers– Float riders and anyone dressed in costume.
  • Metairie (Met’ tree)- A suburb of New Orleans–between the airport and New Orleans.
  • MY-Nez– Translated: “mayonnaise”
  • “N’awlins”– “New Orleans”–It’s faster that way!
  • Neutral Ground– Median or grassy area between the paved areas on a boulevard. Named for the original Canal St division between the Americans and Creoles, who did not like each other.
  • Pantry (pan-tree)- Cupboard.
  • The Parish (da Parish)- Louisiana has parishes, not counties, but this often refers to Chalmette, a suburb outside of New Orleans.
  • “Pass a Good Time”– Translated: Have a good time.
  • Picayune (Pic’ ee yoon)
    • Small, nit-picky (It was a Spanish coin worth more than a nickel and less than a dime: 6 1/4 cents, to be precise)
    • Name of our newspaper, the “Times-Picayune”
    • Small town north of New Orleans in Mississippi.
  • Pirogue (Pee’ row) Yes, it sure looks funny!- Flat-bottomed canoe, perfect in the bayous.
  • Praline (Praw’ leen)- Brown sugar pecan-filled candy patty. (Very sweet and so delicious you can’t eat just one!)
  • Shotgun– Usually part of a “double”–a single row house in which all rooms on one side are connected by a long single hallway–you can open the front door and shoot a gun straight through the back door, without hitting a single wall…now, I have no idea who has tried this, or even why this is the way one describes these houses!
  • Slave Quarters– Houses behind the main building of large plantation homes where slaves used to live.
  • Soc Au’ Lait (Sock-o-lay)- Translated: sack of milk. Used in place of “What the?”, “Ouch!”, or “WOW!”
  • Tchoupitoulas Street (Chop a two’ les)- Interesting street name. One of the trickiest to pronounce–and spell!
  • Throws– Trinkets such as beads, cups, and doubloons tossed from the floats to the crowds during Mardi Gras parades.
  • “Throw Me Something, Mister!”– What everyone yells at parades to get throws from the maskers on the floats!
  • Uptown (uhp’ tawn)- Area “upriver” from the French Quarter.
  • Vieux Carre’ (Vooo ca ray’) (View ca ray’)- French for “Old Quarter,” this is a term used for the French Quarter, including world-famous Bourbon Street…experience it in any of our French Quarter Hotels.
  • Voodoo (Voo’ doo)- A form of witchcraft.
  • West Bank– You have to look east to see the “other” side of New Orleans, on the west bank of the Mississippi.
  • “Who Dat?”– A New Orleans Saints fan and a chant. “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”
  • Yat– Standard greeting–(“Where yat?” is “Hello, how are you doing?”). “Yat”
  • is also used as as noun to describe a true native New Orleanian.
  • “Yea, you right!”– Translated: “Yes, you are right!”

Lingo courtesy of experienceneworleans.com