17 'bon' figures of speech from Louisiana French

How’s it plucking?

New Orleans
(Image credit: iStock)

French has been spoken in North America since long before the pilgrims arrived. In Louisiana, where French colonists settled and ran things in French well into the 19th century, people still speak French, or Cajun, so named for the Acadians (Les cadiens -> Cajuns) who settled there in the 1700s after being expelled from French Canada by the British. Peppered with its own unique flavor of life on the bayou, it’s a long way from the French of France. Here are 17 figures of speech in Louisiana French from Tonnerre mes chiens!, by Cajun scholar Amanda LaFleur.

1. Gombo de babines

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Arika Okrent

Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.