Tag

#nola

85 words tagged “nola”

cher
noun

Cajun term of endearment, from French chéri(e).

#nola#cajun#southern#hip-hop
K&B purple
noun

The unmistakable royal purple of the old NOLA drugstore chain — local shorthand for that exact shade.

#nola#color#nostalgia#local
po-boy
noun

NOLA's signature sandwich on crackly Leidenheimer French bread.

#nola#food#southern#hip-hop
making groceries
phrase

Doing the food shop, NOLA-style.

#nola#french-creole#southern#everyday
Ya mamma'n'em
phrase

Your mother and the whole rest of the family — one mashed-up word.

#nola#family#yat#southern
shoot-da-chute
noun

A playground slide.

#nola#dialect#childhood#south
Backatown
noun

The back-of-town New Orleans neighborhoods, inland from the river toward North Claiborne.

#nola#geography#tremé#southern-us
krewe
noun

A Mardi Gras club that throws a parade or ball.

#nola#mardi-gras#southern#carnival
brown beat
phrase

Cameron Paul's 1987 drum loop — bounce's second foundational sample.

#nola#bounce#hip-hop#samples
Cayoodle
noun

A mutt — a mixed-breed yard dog, said with affection.

#nola#louisiana#new-orleans#animals
On da Wes' Bank
phrase

Across the Mississippi from NOLA proper — Algiers, Gretna, Marrero, Harvey.

#nola#geography#new-orleans#yat
Crescent City Connection
noun

The twin bridges over the Mississippi linking NOLA to the West Bank.

#nola#geography#new-orleans#bridges
Podna
noun

'Partner' — friendly NOLA address for an unfamiliar man.

#nola#yat#address#dialect
cold drink
noun

Any soft drink in NOLA — temperature doesn't matter.

#nola#food#dialect#southern
sissy bounce
phrase

NOLA bounce variant fronted by queer, trans, and drag performers.

#nola#bounce#hip-hop#lgbtq
504
noun

New Orleans — the city's area code used as shorthand for the place itself.

#nola#hip-hop#southern-us#area-code
Where Dey At
phrase

MC T. Tucker & DJ Irv's 1991 single — widely cited as the first true bounce record.

#nola#bounce#hip-hop#history
muffuletta
noun

Round Sicilian sandwich stacked with cold cuts and olive salad.

#nola#food#italian#southern
huck-a-bucks
noun

Homemade frozen Kool-Aid in a Dixie cup — NOLA summer staple.

#nola#dialect#south#food
Twinspan
noun

The twin bridges carrying I-10 across Lake Pontchartrain to Slidell.

#nola#geography#new-orleans#bridges
bling bling
noun

Onomatopoeia for the flash of diamonds — courtesy of Cash Money, 1999.

#nola#new-orleans#hip-hop#wealth
bounce
noun

New Orleans hip-hop subgenre built on call-and-response chants over the Triggerman loop.

#nola#bounce#hip-hop#dance
make dodo
phrase

To go to sleep, from Cajun French 'faire dodo.'

#nola#cajun#southern#french
Gallery
noun

A covered NOLA balcony or porch — the lacy iron ones in the French Quarter.

#nola#architecture#new-orleans#french-quarter
Stoop
noun

The front steps of a house — and the social spot for sitting out and watching the block.

#nola#housing#new-orleans#street-life
Erstas
noun

Variant Yat spelling of 'oysters' — same word as ersters.

#nola#yat#food#dialect
Hurricane party
phrase

Boarding up, stocking the cooler, and partying while the storm rolls in.

#nola#gulf-coast#tradition#party
lagniappe
noun

A little something extra, on the house.

#nola#french-creole#southern#service
Berl
verb

To boil — Yat pronunciation, as in crawfish berl.

#nola#yat#food#dialect
nuttinonit
phrase

A po-boy ordered plain — 'nothing on it.'

#nola#food#po-boy#yat
flyin' horses
noun phrase

A merry-go-round, specifically the antique one in City Park.

#nola#dialect#south#childhood
Chalmatian
noun

A resident of Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish — usually said with a smirk.

#nola#yat#new-orleans#stereotypes
by my house
phrase

NOLA way of saying 'at my house,' calqued from French.

#nola#yat#dialect#southern
ova by
preposition

New Orleans-ese for 'at' or 'to' a place, usually someone's house.

#nola#yat#dialect#south
throw me somethin', mista!
phrase

The traditional Mardi Gras shout to a float rider — toss me some beads.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#south
skeeta hawk
noun

A dragonfly — said to hunt mosquitoes.

#nola#dialect#south#nature
Indians
noun

Mardi Gras Indians — Black NOLA tribes who mask in elaborate hand-sewn suits.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#black-culture
go cup
noun

Plastic cup for taking your drink onto the street — legal in NOLA.

#nola#drinking#southern#bourbon-street
parish
noun

Louisiana's word for what every other US state calls a county.

#nola#louisiana#southern#civic
buku
adjective

A whole lot — the NOLA spelling of French beaucoup.

#nola#hip-hop#southern#french-creole
turlet
noun

Yat pronunciation of 'toilet,' straight outta New Orleans.

#nola#yat#hip-hop#southern
Boeuf Gras
noun

'The fatted bull' — Carnival symbol of the last meat before Lent.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#french
zink
noun

Yat for the kitchen sink.

#nola#yat#hip-hop#southern
Slugs
noun

Gold teeth — a full mouth of them means you're slugged up.

#nola#houston#hip-hop#jewelry
Dawlin'
noun

Darling — the universal NOLA term of address, used on anybody.

#nola#yat#endearment#dialect
Yatspeak
noun

The whole bundle of New Orleans pronunciations and grammar — 'where y'at?'

#nola#yat#new-orleans#dialect
who dat
phrase

NOLA rallying cry — now the Saints fans' battle hymn.

#nola#sports#southern#saints
flambeaux
noun

Lit torches carried by walkers in nighttime Mardi Gras parades.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#french
neutral ground
noun

What New Orleans calls a road median.

#nola#southern#geography#mardi-gras
brake tag
noun

The car inspection sticker — what every other state just calls an inspection sticker.

#nola#louisiana#dialect#cars
yat
noun

The thick New Orleans accent — and the people who carry it.

#nola#dialect#identity#southern
ya mom'n'em
phrase

NOLA-speak for 'your mom and the rest of the family'.

#nola#family#southern#everyday
back o' town
noun

Historic Black NOLA neighborhood near the old New Basin Canal.

#nola#jazz#history#southern
shotgun house
noun

Long narrow NOLA house with rooms in a straight line front to back.

#nola#architecture#southern#hip-hop
laissez les bons temps rouler
phrase

Let the good times roll — NOLA's unofficial motto.

#nola#french-creole#cajun#mardi-gras
twerk
verb

Hip-popping, ass-shaking dance born out of New Orleans bounce.

#nola#bounce#dance#hip-hop
doubloon
noun

Aluminum krewe coin thrown from Mardi Gras floats.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#south
Faubourg
noun

A historic NOLA neighborhood — Marigny, Tremé, St. John, the whole crew.

#nola#neighborhoods#new-orleans#geography
king cake
noun

Cinnamon ring cake with a plastic baby inside, eaten through Carnival.

#nola#food#mardi-gras#southern
Beaucoup
adjective

A whole lot — pronounced 'bookoo' down in NOLA.

#nola#louisiana#french-loan#intensifier
Sac au lait
interjection

Cajun exclamation of surprise — and also the local word for crappie.

#nola#cajun#louisiana#french
Lundi Gras
noun

'Fat Monday' — the day before Mardi Gras.

#nola#mardi-gras#carnival#french
Shotgun
noun

Narrow NOLA row house with rooms strung in a single line, no hallway.

#nola#architecture#housing#new-orleans
Uptown side / downtown side / lakeside / riverside
phrase

NOLA's cardinal directions — locals don't use N/S/E/W because the river bends.

#nola#geography#new-orleans#directions
Hi-rise
noun

The elevated stretch of I-10 arching over the Industrial Canal — a NOLA landmark.

#nola#geography#new-orleans#landmark
fais do-do
noun

Cajun dance party — named after putting the kids to bed.

#nola#cajun#french-creole#music
triggerman beat
phrase

The one-bar Showboys loop that powers nearly every New Orleans bounce track.

#nola#bounce#hip-hop#samples
Gumbo ya-ya
phrase

Everybody talking at once — overlapping, chaotic, joyful conversation.

#nola#cajun#creole#conversation
Sossidge
noun

Sausage — Yat pronunciation, roughly SAH-sage.

#nola#yat#food#dialect
Vieux Carré
noun

Local name for the French Quarter — literally 'old square'.

#nola#french-quarter#new-orleans#neighborhoods
banquette
noun

Yat for sidewalk.

#nola#french-creole#yat#southern
boo
noun

Cajun-rooted pet name for a kid or sweetheart.

#nola#cajun#hip-hop#southern
camelback
noun

A shotgun house with a single-story front and a two-story rear.

#nola#architecture#south#history
earl
noun

Yat pronunciation of 'oil' — cooking oil, motor oil, any oil.

#nola#yat#dialect#southern-us
mirliton
noun

New Orleans name for the chayote — vegetable pear, pantry staple.

#nola#food#creole#louisiana
gris-gris
noun

A voodoo charm to ward off evil — or wish it on someone.

#nola#voodoo#southern#occult
Yeah you rite
phrase

Emphatic New Orleans agreement — the canonical Yat affirmation.

#nola#yat#southern-us#dialect
where y'at
phrase

New Orleans for 'how you doing?' — not 'where are you'.

#nola#greeting#yat#southern
Schwegmann's bag
noun

An informal unit of volume — roughly what fit in the giant paper sacks from the old Schwegmann's grocery chain.

#nola#measurement#nostalgia#local
Sug
noun

Sugar — endearment from older NOLA women, pronounced SHOOG.

#nola#southern#endearment#dialect
pass by
verb phrase

To stop in and visit somewhere, not just walk past it.

#nola#yat#dialect#south
Pirogue
noun

Flat-bottomed Cajun canoe built to glide through the bayou.

#nola#cajun#louisiana#boat
P-popping
verb

The up-and-down butt-bounce dance — NOLA's original twerk.

#nola#bounce#dance#hip-hop
dressed
adjective

A po-boy loaded with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo.

#nola#food#southern#hip-hop
Ersters
noun

Oysters, in the thick Yat accent of working-class New Orleans.

#nola#yat#food#dialect