Summer Blues

Besides the heat, the next worst thing about summer is the lack of shows to watch.

For those of you Duck Dynasty fans, last night was the season finale. And it was a good one. I was almost in tears watching Si do his turkey dance o’ love. But now what will I watch?

Granted, I don’t actually watch a lot. Most of the time I turn the television on for background noise as I read, but lately I’ve found myself getting more and more caught up in what’s on the tube. Sunday nights I have to drag myself to bed because I get sucked in by Holmes on Homes on HGTV and I don’t even like home improvement shows. Wednesday nights were my Duck Dynasty nights, Thursdays is reserved for Swamp People, and Friday nights are Ghost Adventures.

Then I realized there are new shows coming on. I just have to catch them. Storage Wars is starting its new season. Swamp People isn’t over yet. And then there’s the show shot in my parish, Cajun Justice that starts in a couple of weeks. Now, I’ll have to watch this show because I have to see how they portray the people here. Okay, and also to see if I know anyone they arrest. I know, I know. It’s going to piss me off. I know this ahead of time, so be prepared for some ranting posts over the summer. Just warning you.

So what are you sad to see end? What shows will you wait with bated breath for the return of?

A Blank Slate

I can’t think of any Cajun French lessons to pass on to you today. The only thing I can really come up with is Swamp People because I was talking with my nephew about it over the weekend.

I really enjoy the show although I do spend a good bit of time cringing. Some of the things said, or done, during the show are outright exaggerations, but that makes for good television. The one thing I get a kick out of, but that irritates me, are the subtitles.

Are they really so hard to understand? Most of the time I have to look away from the television so I can concentrate on what they’re saying, rather than read what they’re saying. Does that make sense? If I read the subtitles, I can’t really gauge their emotions. Then again, looking away from the television means I miss something.

Then we had to talk about who our favorites are. My nephew and I both agree that Mitch and Glen are downright hilarious, but if I had to pick an absolute favorite, it’d be Troy. Second to him would be Liz because what woman wouldn’t admire another who had the courage and know-how to go out catching alligators? I mean, that’s just awesome.

But then we went back to talking about the subtitles. It seems I’m not the only one from here who has a problem with them.

I’ll put the question to y’all. If you watch Swamp People, do you have to read the subtitles to understand any of the hunters when they’re speaking?

Cajun French: Tête Dur

I started to panic this month when I realized I was slowly running out of Cajun French words and phrases to share with y’all. So I sat my sister-in-law and parrain down so I could get some more information.

There we were, sitting on the porch Sunday morning when my parrain reached over, popped my mom in the head with the palm of his hand and said, “tête dur!” I didn’t even need to ask him what it meant, the smack to the head was plenty explanation for me. It means “hard-headed”. And that’s something we’ve all heard from our parents once or five million times. Of course, not all parents throw in the forehead smack, but we do talk with our hands down here.

So here’s what we have tête dur, pronounced “tet” rhyming with “net” and “dur” like the u sound in “puree”. My mom didn’t use this word with us. She just called us stubborn or hard-headed, but after my parrain knocked her in the head, she said, “I forgot Mama used to say that to us.” Now by Mama, she means her grandmother who spoke Cajun French and apparently taught all of her grandchildren the swear words without realizing it. (I’ll get to that story another time.)

You can use this phrase in a couple of ways:

Just plain old: tête dur! (Forehead smack optional)
And: “Mais, you’re so tête dur!”

Is this a phrase you think you can use? I have to ask, will you use the forehead smack? It’s okay, you can tell me!

And don’t forget, tonight is Swamp People on the History Channel. If you want to hear some great Cajun accents, give it a look-see!

In The Swamp

I’m over at Haunted Dreams, Dark Destinies today talking about anti-heroes. I hope you’ll stop by!

I know I talk about my little corner of the world a lot, but I believe people are fascinated by it. Why? Well, apparently there’s a show about the alligator hunters here in the swamps of south Louisiana (they actually hunt in the swamps no more than 30 miles from where I live). I haven’t watched the show, but all of my relatives do and they assure me it’s worth a peek. The show is called Swamp People.

It plays on the History Channel. Film crews follow several alligator hunters on their regular jaunts through the swamps. It plays on Thursday nights which means I have to give up Bones to catch it, but that’s okay. I’ve been told that they have subtitles at the bottom of the screen because their accents are so thick. Then my sister-in-law was telling me some of the guys’ catch-phrases and had me cracking up so much I now must watch the show.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t have alligators roaming the streets here. Okay, that isn’t entirely true. My neighbor had a 9′ gator under her porch and we don’t live very close to the bayou. There have been instances where dogs have disappeared because of a resident alligator in some neighborhoods. So yeah, I suppose they live among us even if I say we’re more civilized than Hollywood would have the world believe.

And to further ruin my point about civilization, I was reminded of an incident I saw with my very own eyes a few years ago. I was driving to town (because you always go “to town”) to get my tires replaced. I took a shortcut road which cuts right behind a subdivision and through the marsh. It was about 7:30 on a Saturday morning so there wasn’t a lot of traffic and I had the road to myself. Well, almost to myself.

I saw an alligator running down the opposite shoulder of the road I was driving on. Not really strange, but it’s what was chasing him that had my jaw dropping open in shock. Yes, you got it. There was a machete-wielding man chasing the alligator down and running behind him was his wife who was carrying a Jim Bowie knife and a huge Tupperware bowl. Know what they were planning? To kill the gator and take its tail. It was so surreal, I shook my head all the way to the mechanic. Because really? You’re running after an alligator with a machete and you already have the bowl for the meat.

Crazy!

Of course, it’s also illegal. You have to have a special hunting license for alligators. You can’t just kill them when you want and take the tail; no matter how damn good alligator meat is. Oh yes, I love fried alligator. It’s…mais, it’s good good! But you sure as hell won’t catch me chasing one down! Talk about eating off the hoof…

So have any of you ever seen Swamp People? Will you watch it just out of morbid curiosity? If you do watch it and find something confusing about their speech, maybe we could turn that into a Cajun French Lesson. Just shoot me an e-mail with your question and we can discuss it.