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Parts of East Baton Rouge Parish are liberal enough to be considered New France, but Livingston Parish doesn't deserve the title -- it's more like 50/50. The l
by jfacoustic 7y ago
Parts of East Baton Rouge Parish are liberal enough to be considered New France, but Livingston Parish doesn't deserve the title -- it's more like 50/50. The line may be determined by Catholic vs Protestant; New France consists of Catholic majority Parishes.
I'm a part of the French revival movement in South Louisiana to help preserve the culture. Most French speakers are 60+ years old, which is sad. Before about 1970, children suffered corporal punishment if they spoke French in school. Blame it on the Anglo-protestants.
There isn't much French spoken in Nouvelle Orleans anymore. Same goes for Baton Rouge. This largely happened after Reconstruction: some of the Yankee leadership who took over were just as xenophobic as Southern slave-owners. I'm not trying to defend this change in leadership having to occur, it was necessary to make sure the South didn't try to keep slavery alive. Unfortunately, nationalist leadership was much like today's conservatives in wanting the only official language of L'etats Unis to be Anglais.
South Louisiana is highly underrated though, especially the city of Baton Rouge. Weed is decriminalized, there's an incredible symphony orchestra, plenty of art museums, and damn good food. But it's much more "American" of a town than New Orleans or Acadiana.
Here's a hilarious article explaining the division between North and South Louisiana:
http://dailycrawfishnews.com/2018/05/07/despite-korea-unification-north-and-south-louisiana-no-closer-to-making-peace/ http://dailycrawfishnews.com/2018/05/07/despite-korea-unific...
Anyway, laissez les bons temps rouler, vous-autres!
- jriot 7y agoI am in South Louisiana as well, close to New Orleans. Grandfather is full Cajun, grew up in Cutoff, with his father being the captain of a shrimp boat. One of my goals next year is to learn French. Do you speak French?
- jfacoustic 7y agoThat's cool. Je parle un peu de francais, et vous? Parisien, pas cadien, malheursement.
- jriot 7y agoNo, not yet. It will most likely be Parisien as well, since learning Cajun French would make the journey much more difficult.
- jfacoustic 7y agoThere are some mild differences in vocabulary and pronunciation (the Cajun 'R' is way more difficult) but they're mutually intelligible.
- jriot 7y agoGood to know! Where do you find people speaking Cajun French in Louisiana? We went to the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles a few months ago, the only time I heard French was in the music, no one seemed to use French during a conversation.
- jfacoustic 7y agoMainly Lafayette for me. Vermillionville has French speakers as well. There are a couple of French meetups in the Baton Rouge area as well.