For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities • Hacker News Board

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#11

Post by kls » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 2:13 PM UTC

twic wrote: post #10

Good to see the verb "whap" getting an outing. Is that a word with which American readers are familiar?

In the south it is a colloquialism used by older generations. I heard it all the time when I was a child, but it has fallen out of favor (even in the south) with the rise of TV English.

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#12

Post by NOSHSHNACKERS » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 2:36 PM UTC

DiNovi wrote: post #3

A quirk resulting from this is that New Orleanians refer to medians as "neutral grounds," as there was a median separating the american sector from the french quarter where trade between the two occured(this is now canal st.).

nutra ground.. like nutra rat. I thought as a kid giant rats lived in the there. You would see dead nutria on the side of the road as a kid and there you go.. nightmares

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#13

Post by cafard » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

DiNovi wrote: post #3

A quirk resulting from this is that New Orleanians refer to medians as "neutral grounds," as there was a median separating the american sector from the french quarter where trade between the two occured(this is now canal st.).

Isn't "neutral ground" for "median" a British usage?

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#14

Post by cannam » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 3:58 PM UTC

cafard wrote: post #13

DiNovi wrote: post #3

A quirk resulting from this is that New Orleanians refer to medians as "neutral grounds," as there was a median separating the american sector from the french quarter where trade between the two occured(this is now canal st.).

Isn't "neutral ground" for "median" a British usage?

I'm British and I didn't recognise either term. I had to head for Wikipedia to translate to British English ("central reservation").

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#15

Post by pimlottc » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 6:03 PM UTC

twic wrote: post #10

Good to see the verb "whap" getting an outing. Is that a word with which American readers are familiar?

Grew up in Northeast Ohio, never knew there was anything unusual about it until your comment.

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#16

Post by raintrees » Mon, Jan 09, 2017, 8:00 PM UTC

NoGravitas wrote: post #9

raintrees wrote: post #5

I am unfamiliar with New Orleans' history and am confused by the article: "The Second Municipality, which the Americans controlled..." and "The First Municipality included all of the French Quarter..." Then I read "In the First Municipality, English was the language of commerce and government; in the other two, French dominated." Did the Second Municipality, American-controlled, have the French language dominate? Or…

The second set of statements is in error...it should read "In the Second Municipality, English...".

Thanks.

Re: For 15 Years, New Orleans Was Divided into Three Separate Cities

#17

Post by cafard » Tue, Jan 10, 2017, 9:43 PM UTC

cannam wrote: post #14

cafard wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't "neutral ground" for "median" a British usage?

I'm British and I didn't recognise either term. I had to head for Wikipedia to translate to British English ("central reservation").

I was wrong. My thinking seems to have been "I've seen that before; the British have a different term; ergo it's British." In fact, "neutral ground" was familiar from Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer, which is set in New Orleans.