Special entry

Special blog entry

"Lâche pas la patate"

 

I have been asked to explain my favourite new French / Cajun phrase ; lâche pas la patate ( losh paw la puttat ) / don't give up / hang in there.

I'm not exactly sure of all the little details. It's something like this ;

It's Mardi Gras time. Winter is almost over. Food supplies are running low. The less affluent, rural Acadians ... les Cadiens ... Cajuns go on a Mardi Gras Courir ( Run ). The coureurs ( runners ) "run" / ride on horseback from house to house, farm to farm, begging for the fixings for a communal gumbo dinner to be prepared the evening of Mardi Gras. They are all wearing costumes, hiding their identity, because they are embarrassed to be having to beg for food, except for the caped but unmasked leader, Le Capitaine. He approaches each house, and after determining that les coureurs are welcome, he waves his white flag, and les coureurs "run" / ride up. If the neighbour is a bit more affluent, he will toss a chicken out into the yard, and all the young, male coureurs will chase and catch the chicken. Catching a chicken on a Mardi Gras Courir is a right of passage from boyhood to manhood for Cajuns. If the neighbour is less affluent, like les coureurs, which is likely, because these were poor neighbourhoods, he might just give the coureurs a sweet potato, grown locally. The young coureurs would feel discouraged. The old wise men knew that eventually, they would be given a chicken, as well as all the other fixings for gumbo. Rice, maybe beans, maybe crawfish or shrimp, certainly some pork. The young, discouraged coureurs would be inclined to throw away the sweet potato in disgust. The wiser, old men knew that they should not give up. Stick with it / keep at it, and eventually they would have all the fixings for a fine gumbo.

Lâche pas la patate ! Don't let go of the potato !

DSK