Wednesday’s Word of the Day

 

I took French in high school.  Two years of it.  I went to a small school, so our options were French, Spanish, or German.  German would have made sense, since much of our area of Missouri was settled by German families.  Spanish would have made sense because it’s really practical—I mean, if the U.S. of A. were to have any sort of official secondary language, it would be Spanish.

But no, I took French, because it seemed more exotic, and because I wanted to visit Paris some day, and I justified it by saying (in my infinite 14-year-old wisdom), “someday I can live in Louisiana or Canada, where it will be useful.”

(Even K-5th graders in Louisiana speak French, why shouldn’t I?)

In college, I continued this delusion with two semesters of French.  I threw one semester of Spanish in there, but discovered that I can’t roll my R’s (true story—it’s an actual physical defect), so that was the end of that.  And to be fair, while on our honeymoon in Europe, having one Romance language under my belt made it fairly easy in both France & Italian, since there were enough similarities to limp by. (Though, on our two days in Germany, I was REALLY wishing I’d taken German instead, and was so happy that our next stop was London.)

However, I’m here to say—whatever French I learned in those 4 years was somewhere next to useless when I DID in fact move to Louisiana.  Aside from knowing that the “Vieux” in Vieux Carre (aka the French Quarter) meant “old”, a beignet was a donut, and “cafe au lait” was coffee with milk…yeah.  Not so useful.

Because a) contrary to what i believed as a 14 year old, everyone in Louisiana does not speak French…and b) the French they DO speak is not the formal French I learned.  It’s a bit of an amalgamation of English, Creole French, Acadian (Nova Scotia area) French, and Houma Indian. And you wrap that up in a Cajun accent and…yeah… We’re so far out of “Je m’appelle Bobbi” that it hurts.

Thankfully, it didn’t matter much, because as a “Yankee” (come from anywhere north of I-10, and you’ll be branded as such) they didn’t expect me to speak it anyway. And the ones who do speak it tend to just throw it in now & then, like the seasoning on a bowl of gumbo.  And I got a good bit of satisfaction on those occasions that I DID understand bits of it, like while doing field work, one of my coworkers was measuring something, and finished off by saying “C’est bon" (“It’s good”).

I digress.  Today’s word! (Which I did NOT learn in French class, but rather from one of my favorite former coworkers, Jude.)

Frissons: (Free-SOHNS) essentially, goosebumps.  Other online dictionaries define it as “an intense moment of excitement, or a shudder”.  Use it as you will.

And, as a bonus, the video for Flight of the Conchords’ “Foux de Fafa”, which always reminds of the feeling I had when I moved to Louisiana & realized just how much “french” I DIDN’T know.

Wednesday Word/Phrase of the Day: comme ça.

This is another phrase that I picked up in Louisiana & it has stuck...I use it in conversation with non-Louisianians & get a raised eyebrow & a quizzical look, like I was momentarily possessed by a demon. In Louisiana, where peeps can recognize simply by every other word in a sentence that I am not a native, a slightly proud sparkle glimmers for a moment in the corner of their eye, as they realize their infectious way of life has ensnared the heart & tongue of an outsider.

To be fair, I was familiar with the phrase "comme ça" (come sa) before I moved to Louisiana, as I had 4 years of French classes under my belt. But I was familiar with it in the following usage:

"Comme si, comme ça", meaning "so-so", as a response to someone asking "How are you today" (Comment allez-vous aujourdhui?) While there are MANY correct responses to that question, "Comme si, comme ça" was the one I used most frequently. I mean, as a stressed-out college student with a 12-hour course load and 2-3 part time jobs at any time (during my senior year, I was delivering pizzas, bartending at a pool hall, and working as a photographer for the campus newspaper), it was either that or "Je suis fatigué" (I'm sure you can figure that one out.)

But I think it was my friend/coworker Dre who first introduced me to the more Cajun usage of the phrase back in '06. Dre was a draftsman & we were discussing a set of maps:

Dre: *draws on the map* So you want it comme ça?
Me: I want it what?

Cajuns typically have a bad rap for butchering the French language, but surprisingly, in this instance the Cajun usage is actually more accurate than the "so-so" translation I was familiar with.

The literal translation of "comme si, çomme ça" means "like this, like that". Cajuns use "comme ça" for "like this" or "like so". Some still use the "like" in front of it, indicating that it represents just "so", or they'll say "like ça". Just depends on the mouth that's saying it.

And since I so RARELY get to use any of the French I spent 4 years learning (because I've never been to Canada and our most frequent immigrants are coming from the South, not the north), I latched onto comme ça almost instantaneously. It wasn't a conscious effort--I just heard it SO often around our office that it just wormed it's way into my vocabulary.

Uses in sentences (complete with Louisiana pics, of course):

As a measurement: "I caught me a decent gaspergou*...it was like comme ça..."

(freshwater drum, also referred to as a "croaker" because of the grunting noise it makes when caught)

Or as instruction: "You see, you gotta peel the crawfish comme ça..."

Wednesday's Word of the Day: Keeyau!

Okay kids, bust out your notebooks & dunce caps--it's time for a little Cajun lesson. Each Wednesday I'll be posting one of the Cajun terms that traveled back north with me.

"Feaux, you speak Cajun?" you ask. Well--no. Not a lot. Truth be told, there's not a LOT of Cajun French spoken in Louisiana these days, at least not out and about, or by people my age.

This is because after the Louisiana Purchase occurred, there was an en masse influx of English-speaking Americans into the area, mostly wealthy aristocrats, who looked down on the rural, French-speaking Cajuns. Within a generation, American politicians created and enforced English-only laws. The locals were shunned for speaking Cajun French in public, and the kids were shunned from doing so in schools... A generation passed, and many parents warned their children not to speak it, for fear they would face the same humiliation and stereotypes. Without french being taught in the schools, and the younger generations only exposures being occasionally at home from their parents, the use of Cajun french became reduced to a word or phrase here and there, that people from my generation picked up from their parents and grandparents.

More recently, the stigma tied to the language has gone away, and many younger people WANT to relearn the language of their heritage. Some private schools offer French immersion programs which teach both formal & local French. And speaking Cajun French in public isn't as taboo as it once was; now, around certain towns, you can catch older men & women sitting on a bench outside a store, discussing their days or most recent fishing trip in their original native tongue.

But for the most part, the 20 to 40-somethings (and beyond, both younger and older) speak what I would refer to as "Cajun English", and I say that as a term of endearment. It involves 99% English, and 1% Cajun, all 100% spoken with a thick Cajun drawl. This drawl is different depending on where you live; if you're from "down da bayou", it's a little thicker, more "round", and a little more... lively. I have on more than one occasion accidentally mistaken a regular Bayou Cajun discussion as an argumen--and when I tried to interject, they just give you a raised eyebrow and say, "Mais, dis is just how we talk, yeah." Nobody's mad or upset--they just speak with a lot of passion, whether it's discussing the Saints game or who should unload the dishwasher.

In the Lafayette area, the "prairie Cajun" (as they are referred to as by the "down da bayou" folk) have a flatter, more monotone accent, spoken a little more quickly. I'll post some videos demonstrating what I mean, maybe next week.

---

So, now that you've had your history lesson, what's your actual word of the day?

"keeyau"

I believe the technical definition for this is "wow!" It's used as an interjection, and, like so many truly Cajun phrases, has multiple pronunciations. The one I picked up on was "kee-YAW", though it sometimes just comes out as "kyaw", with a little aspiration between the k and y sound. But I've heard everything from "Poo-Yie" to "Key-Yoo". It all means the same.

Use it in a sentence? Why, of course I can!

"Keeyau, you see the size a dat fish?"


(I wish I had a more impressive pic, but this LITERALLY is the biggest fish I ever caught in Louisiana. I know...it's sad.)

Or, another example with another pronunciation: I have heard a friend who grew up outside of Lafayette say, whilst getting ready to change her son's diaper:

"Poo-yie, baby, you STINK."