It's been brought up that people in New Orleans have a different dialect than those in the Bayou Country. THIS is FACT. New Orleanians have more of the "yat" dialect - like "where y'at ??" whereas the "Cajuns" further south use the French dialect that includes the "cher"(prnounced sha -short a). I truly wish Hollywod could learn to be less stereotypical of Louisianians and more true to our dialects and ways ... But then, this IS Hollywood I'm talkin''bout ...!!!
shareYou are correct. Hollywood just can't get it right. People in New Orleans do not speak with a southern accent.
http://www.jungworld.com/rants/media.htm (scroll down to the last rant)
Hollywood has been stereotyping us Brits for decades and you get used to it.
I prefer Imaginality to reality.
I was about to comment on this theme but then I thought that of course the people we heard might not have been from NO - but elsewhere in the South.
But it's absolutely true that NO'ers do NOT speak like 'Southerners' - and will actually remind one more of NYC!
RD3 below has a long post on this.
you are 100% correct, I drove down to New Orleans last year , had some time to kill, so I drove in and made a week of it,, and the people in New Orleans have a way different accent than ones that live in the Bayou, as I went on one of those alligator tours in Honey Island Swamp,, much different dialect.
are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite
Where can I hear a good example of both dialects?
sharethese days, Houston Tx.
shareI'm from New Orleans, was born here and raised here, (40 years to be exact) my family has been here since the early eighteen hundreds, so I feel qualified to speak about this subject, I just posted about this very subject on the Heaven's Prisoners board a few minutes ago, New Orleans is made up from a variety of cultures, beginning with the French who started our city and the Spanish who controlled the city for a period of time, the Africans and other black cultures who were slaves, and later as the city grew more and different cultures started to populate different areas of the city. Until the 1950's each nationality pretty much stayed in it's own neighborhood. Because of this and the different areas of the country clergymen and school teachers came from the different neighborhoods took on different dialects, so if you were raised in New Orleans the accent you have depends pretty much on the neighborhood in which you grew up or in today's world where your parents or grandparents grew up, because the neighborhoods are not as culturally divided as they were. Contrary to what most of the world believes Cajuns are not from New Orleans and are not an influential part of the shaping of our city, so you will never find a Cajun section of New Orleans, Cajuns are mainly from the Southwestern part of Louisiana or west of New Orleans but have occasionally settled in and around the city beacuse for the most part New Orleans was where most of the good jobs were and they had families to support. By the way I don't know of any Cajuns or any other Louisianians who speak with that ridiculously fake and truly heinous accent Quaid gave to Remy, anyway the Cajuns have even been involved in politics both State and Local but were never really involved in the initial shaping of our city. Another thing that reaaallllly burns me is when people go around thinking that we all identify our city as N'awlins, no New Orleanian with any education ever says N'awlins. If you really want to hear what a New Orleans accent sounds like listen to Richard Simmons or Harry Connick Jr., and even though he is portraying a New Yorker from Queens, Archie Bunker is a good example of what a New Orleans Yat sounds like, Yats are from a variety of areas of the city like the Irish Channel, Bywater, and the Ninth Ward, and they have an accent that sounds like it is from Brooklyn or Queens, instead of boil they say birl, or oil they say url, oyster is pronounced erster, toilet is terlit, instead of garbage they say gawbage, dog is pronounced dawg. While I am on the subject could a director any director portray New Orleans in it's true light, does every movie have to show the ugly rundown sections of town and does every movie shot here have to show the trashy, touristy side of our Mardi Gras. Do movie production companies really have to perpetuate the myth that we all live in shacks in the alligator infested swamps? New Orleans is a beautiful, historic City with a lot of culture and should not be sullied with these inaccurate portrayals of New Orleans and true New Orleanians.
shareyawn
good film though innit
i'm scottish and still like braveheart even though the story is not even close to fact and mel gibson is well how do you say it oh i know american but then its a movie and he's an actor and if they can only try. by the way even scottish people with proper scottish accents sound daft in movies, I think it's just the contrast on screen
If I am not totally mistaken, Mr. Gibson is actually Australian :-)
sharem. gibson born in US, raised in Australia, but that is for another board
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000154/bio
"Save me Jebus!", Homer Simpson
Not totally mistaken. He was born in New York state. His father moved the family to Australia when Mel was, I believe, around 12. So he's a bit of both.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
I'm from the New York Metro area (North Jersey and Westchester) and have been to New Orleans many times. Most, not all, people from New Orleans sound a lot like I do, with possibly a touch of Brooklyn or maybe Ridgewood Queens. The movie is one of my favorites, it is after all a movie.
As for the other topic floating around here, Mel Gibson was born in Peekskill Community Hospital, now known as Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor, NY. In 1956 when he was born in that hospital the location was called Peekskill mainly because Peekskill PO delivered the mail. Mel lived in the nearby community of Verplanck, NY, until he was 12 when his father moved the family to Australia. His father was also born in Peekskill, as was my father, but his mother was born in Australia.
Regarding local dialects: D. Quaid may not have had it right, but the taxi driver says what sounds like "goyly" (instead of "girlie") when telling Anne to get into Remy's car (in the scene where Remy has the pizza and blocks the cab). The first time I heard it, I thought of Queens, NY and Archie Bunker.
By the by, merchant mariners sailing into the port got around the New Orleans-vice-N'Awlins debate by referring to your city simply as NOLA (Noh-lah, emphasis on the first syllable).
Thank you.
share"no New Orleanian with any education ever says N'awlins."
Well, don't that rule out at least nine percent of the folks...
peterNaCl
I totally agree we are steryotyped all the time and almost every person in New Orleans has a differant dialect, were you there when Katrina hit? I was.
sharedouble yawn - pleeeaaasse!! Just enjoy it!! Often times when movies depict certain well known regions, like the South, directors will want the actors to "play up" what is considered a typical accent for that region. Stereotypical typecasting, sure, especially regarding anything Southern, but there are plenty of moviegoers who do not have ties and/or have not visited a particular area which would make them unfamiliar with the actual customs/habits/dialects of the locals, so this "play up" allows the viewer to "place" themselves into the setting.
Come on little pup, stay on the porch and let the big dogs play.
Kind of like the characters in Fargo. The Cohens reeeeally cranked up the "up Nort Minnesoooota" accent, doncha know. Now, that's not to say there aren't people that talk like that, but they're MOSTLY from more northern or rural parts of the state.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Kind of like the characters in Fargo. The Cohens reeeeally cranked up the "up Nort Minnesoooota" accent, dooooncha knooooow. Now, that's not to say there aren't people that talk like that, but they're MOSTLY from more northern or rural parts of the state.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Yeah, that accent was way over the top, I don't know of any one that sounds like that in New Orleans. Dennis Quaid was better when he wasn't talking. He started to sound a lot better when he got emotional at the end when his brother was shot. He dropped all that "cher" nonsense. I liked Barbara Hershey's accent in "Shy People" a whole lot better.
shareActually, the Cajuns aren't *south* of New Orleans; the Gulf is south of New Orleans. The Cajuns are to the west, around Lafayette (where the street signs are in English and French) in towns with names like Mamou, Grosse Tete, and the like. And while yes, the accent of natives of New Orleans is different from the classic Cajun accent, it is overly-simplistic to think that there aren't families in New Orleans who have different accents, including Cajuns and Creoles. (My wife and in-laws are Cajuns.) So cut ol' Dennis some slack. And Grace Zabriske is *from* New Orleans.
share[deleted]
I am from Opelousas. Up north now. West Monroe, LA...lol.
Love the movie, but yes, accents needed some work, maybe a lot of work!
With Dennis Quaid being from East Texas, I would have thought he'd be able to do the accent properly.
shareQuiad's accent (or attempt at an accent) is my biggest problem with this movie. I go down to New Orleans a couple times a year on business and for pleasure and I'm still waiting to hear that accent.
I think the movie would have been better off without an accent for him since all we could complain about is that he didn't sound like he was from NOLA.
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ITA. I'm from New Orleans, and I really dislike when people assume I should have a southern accent. Lots of times people say things like "Wow, I assumed you were from Brooklyn or something."
I really dislike when New Orleaneans in movies have 'southern' accents. It's also funny when they show areas of downtown packed like it's Mardi Gras or right after a Saints game when in the movie, it's I dunno, like 3:00 on a Tuesday afternoon.