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General discussion

You Know You're From Louisiana When.....

Dec 16, 2003 3:04AM PST

You think the breeze from a flying roach feels good on a hot summer night.

You shake out your shoes before putting them on.

Your sunglasses fog up when you step outside.

No matter where else you go in the world, you are always disappointed in the food.

You get up in the morning and start cooking a pot of rice before you give any thought to what you'll fix for dinner.

Your accent sounds nothing like Harry Connick, Jr's.

Your baby's first words are "long beads."

You ask, "How dey running?" and "Are dey fat?" but you're inquiring about seafood quality. When a hurricane is imminent, you have a lot more faith in Nash Roberts than Super Doppler 6000. (Nash was a weather guy in N.O......never used technology....instead he drew on a board with black marker to show fronts, storms, etc.)

Nothing shocks you. Period. Ever. Not politics, hurricanes, red lights, parking tickets, the Saints, Mardi Gras.....

Your one-martini lunch becomes a five-Bloody Mary afternoon.......and you keep your job. You're walking with a plastic cup of beer. When it starts to rain, you cover your beer instead of your head.

Your idea of health food is a baked potato instead of fries with your fried seafood platter. You have sno-ball stains on your shoes.

You call tomato sauce "red gravy."

Your middle name is your mother's maiden name or your father's mother's maiden name or your mother's mother's maiden name or your grandmother's mother's maiden name or your grandfather's mother's maiden name.

You know you recycled too much newspaper when there isn't enough for the dinner (or crawfish/crab) table.

You are going through customs and the agent asks you where you're from and you answer, "Gentilly." (N.O.'s original suburbs)

You eat sno-balls instead of throwing them.

Your house payment is less than your air conditioning bill.

You push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras throws.

Catching "crabs" makes you smile.

You write "crookedpolitician" as all one word. (or you can spell it E-d-w-i-n E-d-w-a-r-d-s)

You know it's "ask" but you purposely say "ax."

You wear sweaters in October because it ought to be cold then.

Someone asks you, "Where ya at?" and you tell them how you are.

You think of potholes as naturally-occurring, upside-down speed bumps.

Your grandparents are called "Maw Maw" and "Paw Paw."

You suck the heads, sing the blues and actually know where you got them shoes.

You don't buy groceries, you make groceries.

You cringe every time you hear an actor with a Southern or Cajun accent in a "New Orleans-based" movie or TV show.

You have to reset your clocks after every thunderstorm.

You waste more time navigating back streets than you would if you just sat in traffic.

You fall asleep to the soothing sounds of four box fans.

You eat dinner out and spend the entire meal talking about all the other good places you've eaten.

You make roux isn't what some think.

Discussion is locked

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Or...
Dec 16, 2003 7:49AM PST

First, you make a roux..

You know that if it's Monday, that means red beans and rice.
You know how to pronounce Tchoupitoulas Street.
Going to Mother's means the sandwich shop.
If your little boy misbehaves, you send him to his garconniere (bachelor's quarters).
When your mother sent you out to play, she said "Don't go past the banquette!" (sidewalk).
You know what the Bogue Falaya is. (river)
You know what a boogalee is.
You have ever said "pure coffee" as an insult.
You have ever lost a pile of money playing bourre(BOO-ray, a gambling card game that can get high stakes and nasty.).

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nt) ?? I thought bourre was the Italian game with steel balls?
Dec 16, 2003 9:54AM PST

.

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Re:nt) ?? I thought bourre was the Italian game with steel balls?
Dec 16, 2003 10:45AM PST
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Thanks Jack. Cool stories in those links. :-)
Dec 16, 2003 10:54AM PST

I love Euchre. Not as much as five hundred, but with three packs, the entire club can play in the one game.

Ian

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boccie or boules nt
Dec 16, 2003 7:23PM PST

.

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nt) thx Jonah.
Dec 18, 2003 4:42PM PST

.

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nt Your baby's first words are "long beads."?
Dec 16, 2003 7:24PM PST

.

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Re:nt Your baby's first words are
Dec 16, 2003 7:48PM PST

"Long Beads" are thrown to parade goers from the Mardi Gras Floats. Long beads, regular beads and all kinds of "trinkets" are thrown from Mardi Gras Floats to parade goers.

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nt gottit..... thanks Walt
Dec 16, 2003 7:50PM PST

.

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Perhaps even better...
Dec 16, 2003 9:33PM PST

Perhaps a more certain indicator is if the words are, "Throw me something, mister!".
BTW, if you're ever in some off the beaten path Cajun bar and another customer turns to you and slowly and forcfully says, "What you gonna do,....EH?", tread lightly. If you're next to them, get out of the way, fast.

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Re:Re:nt Your baby's first words are
Dec 16, 2003 11:43PM PST

Ahh, you and J. have been to New Awlins' and probably to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter where the big mam-ma-moo ladies throw Long beads from the balcony.
During Mardi Gras season, parades and festive occasions are also held in Louisiana small towns. Lot's of Fais-do-do (dancing).

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Been to...
Dec 17, 2003 4:06AM PST

You might say that I've been to New Orleans. (grin)

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I give up, Lash...
Dec 18, 2003 11:56AM PST

O.K., Lash, I have thought for a long while and give up. What's the joke in "You make roux isn't what some think."? Even with all the time I have spent in NOLA, for some reason it just does not hit me.
Not wasted time, though, It prompted me to think of a terrible cooking pun that Ian might like.

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Re:I give up, Lash...
Dec 18, 2003 2:13PM PST

If Ian was visiting a residence in S. Louisiana, whereas a Cajun announced that he was going to make roux, Ian might look out off the back porch to see if he had a Kangaroo or a mistress in the next room. Wink

Roux = dark brown gravy made from flour burnt in fat/oil (stir a lot until right dark brown, then cut down heat carefully standing back adding hot water while stiring to make for gumbo)

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:-) nt
Dec 18, 2003 4:46PM PST

.

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If it isn't jack's pun, c'mon J. gimme!! Ian :-)
Dec 18, 2003 4:47PM PST

.

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Jack's pun ???
Dec 18, 2003 5:12PM PST

I did not say anything above when you 'thanked Jack' as I figured you were in a rush and made a slight mistake. My name is not Jack, I have never been named or called Jack before, not even as a nickname.
Now if you think I am a ****-off, that is something else. Wink

????

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I try to keep track of who's who, as people change their alias
Dec 18, 2003 6:08PM PST

frequently, and many adopted a new alias after the fora changeover.

So, I keep a text file, into which I copy and paste people's "who am I" information when it appears in SE.

Not that long ago: Lash LaRue Leroux: ...."OK, my name is Jack Leroux".

You were having an argument with one of us, and claimed your name is Jack. Fair enough, so I called you Jack.

Ian

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Re:I try to keep track of who's who, as people change their alias
Dec 18, 2003 9:59PM PST

I don't recall 'an argument with one of us' and claiming Jack as my name. I do recall having some disagreement with Glenda over a comment she made about someone using bad and good grammer in the same post. That was in a fairly long *Pickle* thread where the entire thread was deleted.

Please call me Lash, LeRue, Leroux, or even Hey.
Thanks. Happy

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OK. "the Street" do? nt
Dec 19, 2003 12:25PM PST

.

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O.K., Ian...
Dec 18, 2003 10:07PM PST

O.K., Ian.
How does an Australian make gumbo? First, you make a kangaroux.

The exact words "First, you make a roux" is a well known Louisiana phrase, not only in cooking instructions, but in a joke or three.
I still don't automatically see the joke in that original statement, "You make roux isn't what some think.". Was it to be a play on a word that sounds similar to roux? If so, what word? Beats me, and you probably remember where I'm from. Trying to figure it out made me think of that silly joke. It took a while, as when the subject is something like "you know you're from Louisiana" or some such the word kangaroo is the last thing that would come to mind for people.

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Re:O.K., Ian...
Dec 18, 2003 10:28PM PST

Even Cajuns have TV's with 'rabbit ears' and learn about kangaroux's.
Wink

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Re:Re:O.K., Ian...
Dec 18, 2003 11:11PM PST

I remember in the third grade our teacher attempting to correct some of our spelling that some parents taught the kids while the family was living in their houseboat gone from any nearby school during trapping season:

A name: eaux'Daniels
A dog's name: Fideaux
A phrase: eaux lawdy
A song: eaux say can you see by the dawns early light
A state: eaux-hio and eaux-klahoma

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There's got to be...
Dec 19, 2003 1:25AM PST

There's got to be some joke that can be crafted about a cajun hunting party where one of them is named Herbert. Gotta' think on that one.

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Re:There's got to be...
Dec 19, 2003 1:47AM PST

Very good J, but I just can't think of any right now that I have heard or read. If I was in a hunting party I would want Hebert.

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Or any joke...
Dec 19, 2003 2:16AM PST

Or any joke, but with the name Henry Quitedlove. (grin)

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Gotta' taste better...
Dec 19, 2003 4:03AM PST

Gotta' taste better than gator. Gotta' stop playing cajun puns, I just came up with one that was so bad I almost threw something at myself.

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nt) Did ya almost catch it? hee hee
Dec 19, 2003 12:29PM PST

.

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Thx J. Talkin' of funny spellin's (jk)
Dec 19, 2003 12:36PM PST

The lady of the manor was asking the butler as he served dinner the meaning of "fox pas", as she'd heard him tell the maid that screwing the driver on the back lawn was a "fox pass" that morning.

The lord of the manor jumped in, and said he could explain it clearly.

"You remember, my dear, last year when the Pontif visited our humble estate?"

"yes".

"Do you remember you were showing the Pontiff your beautiful roses, and he pricked his thumb on the cutting you gave him?"

"yes".

"Do you remember at dinner that night, when you asked the Pontiff, 'So, how is your little *****?' That the butler dropped the dishes, the maid dropped her drawers and I knocked the decanter of the table?"

"yes"

"That, my dear, was a 'fox pass'".

Ian