Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 17:29:27 -0500 From: "Peter L. Patrick" Subject: hmm.. what's cajun English, then? This takes off from the /buku(z)/ issue. Several people wrote in to say that it was not Cajun English since it dates back to WWII or older (though I'm not sure just how these are contradictory), or-- more to the point-- since Cajuns don't use it in their English. I was taking Dick Heaberlin's word for it that it's used by folks in what I think he called Cajun country in SE Texas (didnt't keep the message). Cathy Bodin writes to say it might be used by 1--"Anglos (people of Cajun extraction who speak English)" or 2--"transplants [..on] the fringe of the dialect area" Mike Picone has also recently used the term "Cajun English" in this group. My questions are these: --if (1) above are NOT speakers of Cajun English, then who is? (I'm assuming that the real speakers, who "Please to stand up" as we say in Jamaica, must both be "of Cajun extraction" and "speak English"!) --has anyone written about Cajun English itself, and where? (I believe y'all about /buku/, but still find it an odd bit of grammaticalization that it can take plural /-z/. Course then it looks more like "buckets", which can be similarly used, at least for "buckets of money"! and there's "mercy buckets", etc..)