Do I have to post this AGAIN
Now I could post about how to call FEMA and the Red Cross and donating money and all that, but if you are so ignorant that you didn't know how to use the internet and figure that crap out for yourselves, you wouldn't be reading my blog. Personally, I would prefer it if the brothers and sisters reading my blog donate to one of the Muslim associations in JP, detalis to follow once I talk to someone in a position of responsibility and I find out what the community's situation is like, but that is another story. I am concentrating right now on focusing my financial energy on my loved ones in New Orleans who need stuff in the short term, so please forgive me for playing priorities.
But here is what is frosting me:
DO I HAVE TO TELL Y'ALL this AGAIN? Make no mistake. If my Franco-Algerian Nice Husband can pronounce "New Orleans" correctly, you can too.
1. There are something like 14 different ways to say New Orleans, including the much abused variant, "N'Awlins". Do not say this or type this unless you are a native speaker of New Orleans English. Thank you. If you need proof, please go on your available Lexis Nexis outlet and look up anything in linguistic journals regarding New Orleans.
2. The acceptable prononciation for anyone not from the area is
three syllables: New Or Leans (pronounced like "lens" as in camera lens, contact lens). Orleans pronounced in either the French way or what people think is the French way is unacceptable. Orleans itself should never have three syllables.
3. Under some circumstances depending on what part of Louisiana or Mississippi you are from, "New Awh Lens", still three syllables, can be acceptable. But you wouldn't know that unless you are from these areas.
Yes, I know there are bigger things to be worried about, and I would so love to play the socially responsible linkety link game with y'all, but please, your FAUX SOLIDARITY by trying to say "N'Awlins" is about to push me over the edge. My social responsibility involves my family right now. Thank you.
Update post tea: Here are some additions to my Louisiana/Mississippi Place Name Prononciation Guide for Northerners. As I have studied phonetics, if you need the IPA please email me:
1. Pass Christian: Pass Chris "Styan", not like the first name Christian.
2. Picayune: do not make the A long. I would almost even make it a schwa.
3. Biloxi: the middle syllable should be "lucks" not "lox".
4. Lucedale: "Loose dale".
5. Algiers...if y'all cannot pronounce this, you need to go back to journalism school. It is also the name of a world capital. For shame.
6. Acadiana: Ah cay diana. Long second a, then say Diana.
7. Kiln. Not Brett Favre fans, are we? The Kill.
8. Lafayette: this depends on the particular location of the Lafayette in question. For example, Lafayette County in Mississippi (home of Ole Miss), the stress is on the second syllable. When it comes to the city in Louisiana, the stress is on the third, and the sound of the middle a should be like that in Picayune.
9. Metairie. Meh tuh rie. Like "N'Awlins", no one should ever say "Metry" without permission from the Language Police. Do not say "Me tay rie" under any circumstances.
Are you listening, CNN? Call me petty, but hey. Actually, I am very angry about personal stuff that I won't put on my blog, and venting about people not knowing how to talk right is catharsis for me.
But here is what is frosting me:
DO I HAVE TO TELL Y'ALL this AGAIN? Make no mistake. If my Franco-Algerian Nice Husband can pronounce "New Orleans" correctly, you can too.
1. There are something like 14 different ways to say New Orleans, including the much abused variant, "N'Awlins". Do not say this or type this unless you are a native speaker of New Orleans English. Thank you. If you need proof, please go on your available Lexis Nexis outlet and look up anything in linguistic journals regarding New Orleans.
2. The acceptable prononciation for anyone not from the area is
three syllables: New Or Leans (pronounced like "lens" as in camera lens, contact lens). Orleans pronounced in either the French way or what people think is the French way is unacceptable. Orleans itself should never have three syllables.
3. Under some circumstances depending on what part of Louisiana or Mississippi you are from, "New Awh Lens", still three syllables, can be acceptable. But you wouldn't know that unless you are from these areas.
Yes, I know there are bigger things to be worried about, and I would so love to play the socially responsible linkety link game with y'all, but please, your FAUX SOLIDARITY by trying to say "N'Awlins" is about to push me over the edge. My social responsibility involves my family right now. Thank you.
Update post tea: Here are some additions to my Louisiana/Mississippi Place Name Prononciation Guide for Northerners. As I have studied phonetics, if you need the IPA please email me:
1. Pass Christian: Pass Chris "Styan", not like the first name Christian.
2. Picayune: do not make the A long. I would almost even make it a schwa.
3. Biloxi: the middle syllable should be "lucks" not "lox".
4. Lucedale: "Loose dale".
5. Algiers...if y'all cannot pronounce this, you need to go back to journalism school. It is also the name of a world capital. For shame.
6. Acadiana: Ah cay diana. Long second a, then say Diana.
7. Kiln. Not Brett Favre fans, are we? The Kill.
8. Lafayette: this depends on the particular location of the Lafayette in question. For example, Lafayette County in Mississippi (home of Ole Miss), the stress is on the second syllable. When it comes to the city in Louisiana, the stress is on the third, and the sound of the middle a should be like that in Picayune.
9. Metairie. Meh tuh rie. Like "N'Awlins", no one should ever say "Metry" without permission from the Language Police. Do not say "Me tay rie" under any circumstances.
Are you listening, CNN? Call me petty, but hey. Actually, I am very angry about personal stuff that I won't put on my blog, and venting about people not knowing how to talk right is catharsis for me.
posted by The DP at
10:34 AM
