Louisiana: Coonass

Credit: AV8R stuff

I can't tell you how often I've heard the word "coonass" since I've moved to Lafayette.

Well, mostly it's in the Louisiana-related movies and books I've been reading.

I asked one of my cultural interpretors about the term and he said that it can be good or bad, depending on who's saying it, to whom, and why.

Which jibes with the discussion here and here. 

In a Bayou Teche Dispatches post, author Shane K. Bernard stirred up some debate when he did his own investigation into the origin of the word.

The way I view such terms is like family. If I want to call one of my siblings a chucklehead, then I get to do that. But you don't get to do that. Because you're not in my family.

So as a visitor, I don't think I'll be using the word coonass, but I get that a lot of cajuns will.