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NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans Guide Local Speak – The Katrina Edition
B.K. – Before Katrina. “I saw you at the Faith Evans concert at House of Blues – B.K.” (mostly written rather than spoken)
Carpetbagger: Coined during the early 1900’s term to denote a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War for political or financial advantage; An outsider who presumptuously seeks success and respect in a new locality.
Currently a FEMA agent, insurance adjuster, or construction worker who chases hurricane disasters, hangs out nightly on Bourbon Street, and talks loudly and drunkenly to anyone who’ll listen to their opinion of how to handle “the problem with New Orleans”.
The CORP: Short for “Army Corp of Engineers”, the FEMA equivalent of the fumbling federal engineering agency responsible for botching the design of the levees that eventually broke last summer, repairing said levees, and building our new improved super-levees.
Yeah, yeah, we know…it doesn’t look good…
Dressed: To fix a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Never say, "I'd like my sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo" - it’ll just cause confusion. If you need it different, just say "dressed - mustard, no mayo."
Go-Cup: Plastic or paper cup. It’s legal to drink alcohol in the streets of the New Orleans as long as the container isn’t breakable – Wouldn’t want you to cut yourself when you fall down drunk, now would we?
Currently, serving in place of Valium, Xanax and Paxil for those without health – or property - insurance.
Katrina Cough: A recurring, lingering cough with phlegm many New Orleanians have developed as a result of all the airborne debris from decaying houses.
Katrina Fatigue: Exhaustion, depression resulting from navigating the Hurricane Katrina Iron Man Marathon: The FEMA Labyrinth, Insurance Adjuster Chutes and Ladders, and the one-legged, blindfolded ‘Dance-A- Thon Against Time’ while city, state and federal government mismanage and de-organize our rebuilding efforts.
Katrina Look: A look in the eyes foreshadowing a postal attack - murder, suicide, and/or heart attack/stroke, all increased since the hurricane.
Katrina Moment: a.k.a. ‘an emotional meltdown’; crying at inappropriate moments, for no apparent reason, often occurring in public lines, lobbies, or waiting areas, surrounded by on-lookers nodding their heads in agreement and regulating their breathing in order to avoid spontaneous sympathetic meltdown.
The Lower Nine: The section of the Ninth Ward that sits next to the Industrial Canal, one of the three levees that breeched; the worst hit area of all New Orleans neighborhoods.
When the levee broke, 25,000 tons of water blasted through the wall, ripping houses from their foundations for blocks around, sending them crashing up against other houses, where they collapsed in a heap, oftentimes with people still inside.
Also now known as a memorial, a grave site, or a holy place.
Metarie: The bane of our existence - don’t ask. Just be grateful you’re not joined to the hip to it the way we are.
Okay, it’s the main town in Jefferson Parish; A textbook example of generic, urban sprawl, with parking lot traffic, cookie-cutter shopping outlets, and chain restaurants that serve factory-flavored food; The only place to shop for clothes, electronics, and appliances while half of New Orleans still lies in a coma.
Also see: brain drain, lobotomy.
The Misery Tour: A look-see drive through the Ninth Ward, St. Bernard Parish and Chalmette.
Also, privately-owned bus companies charging $35 for a guided tour of our flood-ravaged neighborhoods.
Momma ‘Nem: (momma anem) Short for one’s mother and extended family. “We’re going by momma ‘nem’s after church. I’ll call you from there.”
New Orleanians have even the Italians beat for their devotion to ‘momma’!
MR-GO (pronounced ‘Mystago’) Sounds like a rapper’s name – “Mr.Go/Mystikal”. Stands for the ‘Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet’, the controversial channel between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico built by the feds which has eroded the natural protective landscape needed to slow down hurricanes upon landfall and curtail their impact on the city. Currently under attack by residents who want the feds to close the little-used outlet and restore the wetlands.
Neutral Ground: The median in the middle of the street. Historically, the term refers to Canal Street where people of various ethnic groups, Italians, Irish, Creoles and Blacks (don’t go there…) met on the median to trade wares, negotiate business. During Mardi Gras, this is where we drag our sofas, grills, ladders, tents, portable stereos, chairs, tables, ice coolers - basically the contents of the house - and set up camp the night before so we can watch the parade the next day in the comfort of our own homes.
Also, the area where our famous, sorely missed St. Charles streetcar used to roll, now overrun with cars parked by ‘carpetbaggers’ who use it illegally as a free parking lot.
New Orleans: The Crescent City, N’awlins, “The City That Care Forgot”, and most importantly ‘Home’
Never referred to by locals as ‘The Big Easy’ - unless we’re talking to visitors.
Parish: The Louisiana equivalent of ‘County’
Shotgun – A style of house commonly found in New Orleans, usually a duplex, where all the rooms in the house are lined up in a row. You can shoot a shotgun from one end of the house and the bullet will sail through uninterrupted to the other end.
It’s Louisiana…whadaya want…
How’d ja do?: Means ‘How did you fare in the storm?’ Has recently replaced “Where ya at?” as the standard local greeting.
I Got Watah. Means ‘My house flooded.’ People now say, “I never had watah before. Now, I got watah.”
Don’t do me that! / I aint do you that!: Translated means, “I didn’t treat you like that - don’t treat me that way!” You hear this a lot in disagreements here, generally foreshadowing a Katrina Moment.
Also see: ‘Golden Rule’
Dere ya go!: Giving a person praise and encouragement. The equivalent of the “Whoomp! There it is!” or Kanye West’s riff, “Go ‘head girl, go ‘head, get down.”
Ya hurd me? “You feel me?” or “Understand?”
By: Means ‘at’. “Y’all having Thanksgiving dinner by your momma ‘nem’s?” or “I’m by DeJean’s house – Come over!”
For: Means ‘at’ or ‘by’, depending on the context:
“I need to be by work for eight tonight.”
Or
“She had a baby for Jessie…then she had a baby for Andre!”
Frenchmen’s: The local’s ‘Bourbon Street’. Full of great music joints and restaurants, at the end of the French Quarter in the Farbourg Marigny.
CBD: The Central Business District; the downtown area.
Vertie Marte – pronounced ‘Verdy Mar’. Okay, not really a local lingo but sounds like a secret, mysterious place, which it actually is if you’re not from here. It’s a small, easily-overlooked, reasonably-priced convenience store in the French Quarter that locals go to for over-stuffed po-boys, homemade pies, and all kinds of delicious New Orleans dishes. A dependable, open late night, dive corner store.
The last three are lagniappes (lan' yap- a freebie to sweeten the deal), some insider information to help you enjoy yourself more next time you come to visit us.
I know – blatant promotionalism.
Deborah Cotton is a freelance journalist and public speaker based in New Orleans, covering on-the-ground stories of the city’s recovery and chronicling the rebuilding efforts of residents in the historic Black neighborhood of the Ninth Ward. She can be reached at Deborah.cotton@gmail.com.
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