Louisiana bird names?

[Donald Martinich]

I recently came across these bird names in an older Louisiana cookbook
and I wondered if any are used in Cajun country?

becassine snipe
bec scie merganser
branchu wood duck
canard cheval canvasback
canard francais mallard
canard gris gadwall
canard noir black duck
gotdam ruddy duck
paille-en-queue pintail, sprig*
perdreau, partridge, quail
perdrix same
poule d'eau coot
printaniere blue wing teal
violon redhead
zin-zin widgeon

*(This is probably the best tasting duck here in this part of California,
particularly if they've been feeding in rice checks.)

Thanks, D.M.

[Tom]

poule d'eau is very common (pronounced poule doo). Also, there is a
protected bird called a bec crosch (spell?) that is some sort of heron I
think.
The generic baby talk name for bird is zo-zo.

Best regards,
Tom Lafayette, LA

In article <5r9h09$p5j$1...@mark.ucdavis.edu>, dut...@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us
(Donald Martinich) wrote:

--
Remove the ".nospam" from address for replies.

Thanks

Tom N5OFF

[Dr A O V Le Blanc]

trin...@idt.net.nospam (Tom ) writes:
>The generic baby talk name for bird is zo-zo.

I have always presumed that this is for oiseau, abbreviated and
repeated.

-- Owen
LeB...@mcc.ac.uk

[AST PREFERRED USER]

There is a tendency in Louisiana to pronounce nouns that begin with
vowels with a "z" sound at the beginning. This is presumably a
deformation based upon the utilization of the noun in the plural and
with the article, "les". Proper pronunciation in this case makes a
liaison between the "s" in "les" and the vowel in the noun which results
in a "z" sound. Thus, "the birds" in French is "les oiseaux" which has
the "z" sound in between and is pronounced almost as one word. The
deformation comes in where the "z" sound is tacked onto the noun when it
is used in the singular or "bird" as "zoiseaux". You see this not only
in Louisiana, but also in the French Antilles.

(Zo-zo is a child's pronunciation incorporating this deformation.)

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