Ha, Gaston! Ha, Tiboy!
December 23, 2023 7:45 AM Subscribe
Watch Papa Noel read the story in his delightful Cajun accent during a swamp tour earlier this month
I still have my copy of this from when I was a kid! It's always a little sad to me how few of my generation have this accent.
posted by KirTakat at 8:05 AM on December 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by KirTakat at 8:05 AM on December 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
This is so flipping cute! Cajun accents are really neat. Thank you for sharing.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 8:29 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The Adventure Begins at 8:29 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I was a kid we moved from Louisiana to Georgia, and that December I found myself singing an arrangement of “the night before Christmas” in middle school choir. At one point, I leaned over to one of the other singers and said “it’s so nice that someone wrote a version of this poem for the rest of the country!”
And she said “what?”
And that’s how I found out that the version linked here isn’t the original.
Thank you for linking, the book is my most important Christmas tradition to this day.
posted by a hat out of hell at 8:35 AM on December 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
And she said “what?”
And that’s how I found out that the version linked here isn’t the original.
Thank you for linking, the book is my most important Christmas tradition to this day.
posted by a hat out of hell at 8:35 AM on December 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
It was a delight to realize how well the original poem aligns to the tune of The Distance by Cake. Now I’m curious what NoLa jazz tunes could be repurposed for this version.
posted by neuracnu at 8:48 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by neuracnu at 8:48 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Merry Christmas to all, and till I saw you some more, from a Pregeant out to the diaspora
posted by eustatic at 8:50 AM on December 23, 2023
posted by eustatic at 8:50 AM on December 23, 2023
Apparently regional dialect versions of A Night Before Christmas is a whole genre! I found several Gullah versions; this one and this one are particularly fun. At the other end of the US we have a Hawaiian pidgin take.
Further afield there's Nigeria, Jamaica, Trinidad, Singapore. Some of these are more about localization than the dialect or accent.
posted by Nelson at 9:12 AM on December 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
Further afield there's Nigeria, Jamaica, Trinidad, Singapore. Some of these are more about localization than the dialect or accent.
posted by Nelson at 9:12 AM on December 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
KirTakat: It's always a little sad to me how few of my generation have this accent.
A lot of GenXers worked hard to eliminate it. I knew a sales guy who had the blandest Midatlantic accent ever. Turned out when you got him drunk the Cajun would come spilling out. He took courses specifically to get rid of his accent.
posted by xthlc at 2:42 PM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
A lot of GenXers worked hard to eliminate it. I knew a sales guy who had the blandest Midatlantic accent ever. Turned out when you got him drunk the Cajun would come spilling out. He took courses specifically to get rid of his accent.
posted by xthlc at 2:42 PM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's always a little sad to me how few of my generation have this accent.
I'm a Gen-Xer who sounds like a generic Midwesterner, thought I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and grew up in Lake Charles. Why? My dad was in the Air Force from the time I was born until I was roughly 8, and TV probably was a factor.
My sisters (three and six years younger than me), at best barely remember that time, and definitely have accents. It never really registered with me that they did (or my classmates) at the time. We might go to smaller towns as part of CYO, and I'd be struck with my peers having strong accents. I was like, where'd that come from?
It was in college in Ohio, when my family would leave messaged on the answering machine and roommates would comment that I really noticed. I still live in Ohio, but, once in a while, will watch some Louisiana-based reality show for a bit, just to listen to the voices.
posted by MrGuilt at 6:45 AM on December 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm a Gen-Xer who sounds like a generic Midwesterner, thought I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and grew up in Lake Charles. Why? My dad was in the Air Force from the time I was born until I was roughly 8, and TV probably was a factor.
My sisters (three and six years younger than me), at best barely remember that time, and definitely have accents. It never really registered with me that they did (or my classmates) at the time. We might go to smaller towns as part of CYO, and I'd be struck with my peers having strong accents. I was like, where'd that come from?
It was in college in Ohio, when my family would leave messaged on the answering machine and roommates would comment that I really noticed. I still live in Ohio, but, once in a while, will watch some Louisiana-based reality show for a bit, just to listen to the voices.
posted by MrGuilt at 6:45 AM on December 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
For this poor northener, could someone who grew up with this explain what "Mama pass de pepper t'ru de crack on de do" refers to? The picture that goes with it shows a woman with a paper bag near the door, but the internet seems completely unable to clarify what is going on here and if it's holiday specific thing or a general good luck ritual or what. Who is she passing the pepper to, or is she just waving it through the door, and why?
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 9:16 PM on December 24, 2023
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 9:16 PM on December 24, 2023
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posted by speug at 8:01 AM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]