Lesson in New Orleans

[Muligan]

Ok Tim down to business. Let's have some of those Awesome Cajun Recipes. Extra Tabasco for me.

[Al]

... from Avery Island, Loozianna. All dem leetle babies down dere grows up on dat stuff, son!

[MikeH]

The term "Yat" comes from WHERE Y'AT! - The traditional New Orleanian greeting. The proper response is, "Awrite."

LAGNIAPPE - Pronounced LAN-yap. A little something extra. Lagniappe is when your butcher gives you a pound and two ounces of hot sausage but only charges you for a pound, or when the waiter at your favorite restaurant brings you an extra dessert or something, and doesn't charge you. Lagniappe breeds good will, friendship and most importantly, return business. Also, "Lagniappe" is the name of the
entertainment pull-out section of the Friday edition of The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

MAKE GROCERIES, MAKIN' GROCERIES - To do grocery shopping. Thought to have originated with the French expression for grocery shopping, "faire le marché". The verb "faire" can mean either "to do" or "to make", and the idiom may have been mistranslated.

NEUTRAL GROUND - The grassy or cement strip in the middle of the road. The terms "median" and/or "island" are NEVER used in New Orleans. Use of one of those foreign terms instead of "neutral ground" is a dead giveaway that you ain't from around here, or anywhere close. If you're lucky, you live on a street with a neutral ground big enough to play football on.

PASS BY - To stop at a place, for a visit or to accomplish something. "Ya gonna be home later? I'll pass by ya house." It doesn't mean just to drive by in your car and keep going ..