Venice isn't exactly my idea of Cajun Country. Check out link #1.

By the TV producers' standards, I might qualify as a Cajun way up here in Texarkana, since I'm only about 80 miles farther from Lafayette than Venice!

Yeah this use to make me angry until I realized that people everywhere do the same thing. Its called ignorance. Don't forget the States effort to capitalize on the "Cajun" label to boost tourism. If it gets people to come down here and stimulate the economy so be it. We have always laughed at them and called them Americaines anyway. Lafayette is a good place to get exposed to the culture, but I wouldn't use it as a reference point to indicate the "Cajun-ness" of something. Venice is probably more "cajun" than Lafayette

"Cajun-ness" notwithstanding, Ragin' Cajuns are rather popular in Lafayette. :-)

My take on Lafayette, and the Academic, work-a-day, and Professional populance there, is it is much like any other prosperous US city of like size. The fact that people there affect the 'Cajun' accent in the use of the English Language is all that distinguishes it from 100 other similiar cities in the US, and in reality, it is no different from cities in Texas like San Antonio or San Marcos or Austin, where the Mexican culture has combined with the South-eastern Anglo culture to give a unique twist and cadence to the English of the inhabitants.

A TV reality show could go anywhere in the US and find some folks who make a living doing out-of-the-ordinary and weird things to make a living. Trying to define these people into a slot is where these shows go astray. It's simply entertainment for the cooped-up among us who can't get out and really live life.

JB

ragin cajuns popular in Lafayette

i agree jb.

Do they speak Cajun French up there in Texarkana too?

It's not as commonly heard as it is around Bayou Lafourche or the Lafayette area parishes but there is a small community of French/Creole speakers in lower Plaquemines Parish that still predominately make their living on the water or working in the oil industry.

Back in the early 90's my grandfather used to take me to visit some of his old friends down near Venice in Cheniere Bay and I couldn't get over how they didn't have electricity, running water, or any desire to speak anything other than French.


John

thanks John

John D,

I speak just enough French to successfully negotiate a contract with a catin (of the European definition).

Ned