New Orleanians: Who We Are and How We Talk

If there's anything on Earth that will make a New Orleanian cringe, it's watching a movie allegedly set in New Orleans. Why? Because of the accent that directors place on actors playing New Orleanians. Either they douse us in Plantation frilliness, making us sound like Scarlett O'Hara's long lost cousin, or they throw an insanely fake overly Frenchy-fied Cajun accent on us. If you know any New Orleanians, you know immediately that we don't sound like that. Let me lay down one thing right off bat... being from New Orleans does NOT make you Cajun. In fact, most people that are Cajun do not actually live in New Orleans. First things first, what's a Cajun? A Cajun is a person who is descended from French Settlers who had originaly moved into Nova Scotia in an area called Acadia. When the British took over, these people were displaced and moved down into the bayous of Louisiana. While they speak a dialogue that many mistake for actual French, Cajun-French is a dialect all its own. A French person and a Cajun person talking would have a hard time understanding each other. Cajuns live predominantly in the extreme Southern areas of Louisiana, right close to the Gulf of Mexico. They have their own music, food, and culture that is distinct from the music, food, and culture of the city of New Orleans. "Cajun" and "Creole" are NOT interchangeable terms. Creole refers to the food and culture of the African slaves that interbred and intermingled with French (not CAJUN French... ACTUAL French) settlers in Louisiana. A New Orleanian with a thick New Orleans accent is often mistaken for someone from Brooklyn, New Jersey, or sometimes Boston, except using the term "y'all"... which is when people get lost and finally ask "Where are you from??" New Orleanians refer to someone with a thick New Orleans accent as a "Yat"... because of the greeting that we use "Where Ya' at?" or "Where Yat?"... which incidently is not an inquiry as to your geographical location, but rather another way of asking "How are you?". You might hear one person say, "Hey! Where ya'at, dawlin??" And the other will reply "Oh, I'm just fine, baby! How's ya mom an' em?" ("ya mom an' em" or "your mom and them" is term referring to your whole family, by the way... example: "How's ya mom an' em?" "Oh, baby, my daddy had to have a bypass last month"). The reason we probably sound so similar to New York is because, New Orleans, like New York, is a city with a very large amount of immigrants... and very many Italian immigrants. There's also a large Irish population, not to mention French and Spanish, since France and Spain both owned Louisiana at different times. In fact, it is way more likely that someone from New Orleans is of these descents (Italian, Irish, French, or Spanish) rather than Cajun. Although we claim Louisiana and of course, love the lore and culture of our state in general. New Orleanians prefer to be classed in a category all our own, and we are fiercely proud of those things (like our accent!) that can distinguish us from other areas of the state. If you ask a New Orleanian where they're from, they might give you what New Orleans neighborhood they grew up in or simply say "New Orleans" before they would say "I'm from Louisiana." New Orleans is who we are--not just a place on a map, but rather the mark of a distinct way of looking at life. Perhpas that's why we cling to our identity so strongly. There was a bumper sticker that came out after Hurricane Katrina that said it so well: Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are.