How to Speak Like a Local in New Orleans

One would think (and many do) that New Orleans—as the French-derived, most European city in the United States—is the place where those three semesters of conversational French are finally going to pay off. All that time spent practicing “Je m’appelle…”  will not be wasted, and the rolling r’s will flow like water.

But New Orleanians have their own linguistic life, with specific pronunciations that differ widely from your college French textbooks. And one of the easiest ways to get instant street cred is knowing how to pronounce where you’re going and what you’re eating.

Here are a few of the more important terms.