Lagniappe 6, from a student, Robert (2)

In the French Quarter, a typical house with wrought iron balcony.

Show of Gospel singers during a Baptist Sunday service in a suburb of New Orleans.

Houmas House is a splendid plantation with a park having many sumptuous oak trees. 

Robert
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-service = here it means "l'office du dimanche"

Lagniappe 5... students express themselves (1-- Dominique)

It's a little out of focus...Lagniappe in a shopping mall

If you are a lover of nature, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       you will see 400-year-old oak trees at the Oak Alley Plantation and in the swamps of the bayous.

If you are interested in the life of the slaves, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       you will discover the sugar cane plantations.

If you are foolhardy, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       you will see and nearly touch aligators which are very greedy : they like eating marshmallows !

If you are musical, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       In New Orleans you'll see and listen to jazz musicians everywhere, in the streets, in the bars and restaurants, in the theater.

If you are a lover of architecture, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       In New Orleans you'll admire old French and Spanish houses with their balconies.

If you are greedy, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       You will eat very, very spicy food ! ! !

If you are inquisitive and want to know and understand the truth about Katrina, GO TO LOUISIANA :

       Visit the museum. You'll be very affected and moved.

If you are depressed, GO TO LOUISIANA :

Meet our "cousins", the Cajuns : they will say to you :  "Lâche pas la patate !" and you will feel better.  For sure.

Dominique Panel

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-to express oneself (express myself, express themselves) = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/express+oneself

-foolhardy = téméraire

-marshmellows = chamallows (guimauve)
-greedy = having a strong desire for food or money
-inquisitive = curious

-"Lâche pas la patate."  =  http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/lâche-pas-la-patate.1381431/?hl=fr

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And here are a few of Yves' photos:

Lagniappe 4

This will be a different kind of lagniappe.

The students in the group have begun their work preparing their contributions to the blog.  Come back tomorrow for the first "student lagniappe"!

Today I would like to tell everyone how excited and happy I am to bring a little of the music of New Orleans to Grenoble.

I sing with a group and we will be presenting our show ALL THAT JAZZ this Saturday, May 30th, 2015 at 16h and at 20h30 at the Salle Olivier Messiaen in Grenoble.  Jazz from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s. There will be the singers (we say "the jazz vocal" rather than "the choir" here), solos, jazz band and dancers too.  It's music that makes you feel so good and takes you back in time. We will be singing New York New York, Cabaret, Roxie, Singing in the Rain, Cheek to Cheek, I Won't Dance (duo), Summertime (solo) and many more songs. Another pleasurable way to use your English.  There will also be a few songs in French, Tout Le Monde Veut Devenir Un Cat, for example.

I know it's going to be fantastic.  I have had a wonderful year working on this project and am so proud to be a part of the group.  I'd love to share the afternoon/evening with all of you who have followed this blog. It's another way of taking you all to New Orleans (and New York's Broadway musicals).

Come and join us.  

Call 06.17.60.18.65 for your tickets.
Remember, click on the show poster below to enlarge, if necessary.

Musically yours,

Jane
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-to enlarge = to make bigger

Lagniappe 3

Oak Alley Plantation, a little more lagniappe. 

While waiting for the students' contribution to this blog, I thought I would share something else we learned when we were in Louisiana.
Do you know what pleopeltis polypodioides is?
Now what language is that?
Universal botanical classification!
Later, students will show you their photos of the resurrection fern growing on the magnificent live oak trees and they will tell you why they are called "live" oak trees!
For now, here's just a little wikipedia information and photos for you:

The resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up its leaves and appearing desiccated, grey-brown and dead.  However, when just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to "resurrect" and becoming again a vivid green color about 24 hours later!  It has been estimated that these plants could last 100 years without water and still revive after getting water.

Now that is interesting, isn't it?

 resurrection fern on an oak branch after a brief rain

the same plant in desiccated state

Jane
PS.  Happy birthday Jacques Télésphore Roman, who would be 215 years old today! (See Lagniappe 2)
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-fern = la fougère
-drought = la sécheresse
-to curl up = s'enrouler
-desiccated = dried up, desséché
-to uncurl = dérouler

Lagniappe 2

LAGNIAPPE 2

Oak Alley Plantation.  We learned something VERY interesting from our guide (who spoke both Louisiana French and English with us) about this famous plantation.
Do you know who Jacques Télésphore Roman is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Telesphore_Roman

Jacques Télésphore Roman

born May 22, 1800, his birthday just two days from today

http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/news/happy-birthday-jacques-telesphore-roman

Jane

LAGNIAPPE

LAGNIAPPE  (Day of our Return +1)
What is "lagniappe"? 
The word comes from American French, from American Spanish la napa, the lagniappe, from la + napa, yapa, from Quechua yapa = something added.

The Free Dictionary tells us: 

Word History:  "We picked up an excellent word---a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice, limber expressive, handy word---'lagniappe'...It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a 'baker's dozen.'  It is something thrown in gratis, for good measure."

In this passage from his memoir Life on the Mississippi (1883), Mark Twain calls his readers' attention to an American regionalism that he thinks deserves to be better known, lagniappe.  The story of lagniappe begins in South American: it ultimately comes from the word yapay, "to give more" in Quechua, the language of the rulers of the Inca Empire.  The Quechua word was borrowed into Spanish as a noun spelled either llapa or ñapa, meaning "bonus, a little something extra added as a gift," and the word then spread throughout the Spanish of the Western Hemisphere.  Eventually, the Spanish phrase la ñapa, meaning "the gift," entered the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans, where the whole phrase came to be thought of as a single word and acquired the French spelling lagniappe.  The word was then borrowed into the English of the region.  Lagniappe continues to be used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase.  By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

First known use: 1844

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Yes, we're back and what a trip we had!
Take a look at what we saw in New Orleans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15w2xyU61JY

It was like this back in the 1920s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osr7WedqNLY

Like this in the 1930s : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiheunLTgOs

And in 1940:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-0iKYQBUB8

Let's jump to May 2015.  We'll have more lagniappe for everyone. The students who took the trip will share a few of their photos with you. But they need a little time to get over the jetlag, empty their suitcases, do the laundry, and sort their photos, but soon you can come back to the blog from time to time to see their contributions to this blog.  

Jane
___________________________________
-limber = agile
-handy = pratique, utile
-roll = un petit pain servi avec le repas
-thrown in = rajouté

62 (D-0) La boucle est bouclée = We've come full circle BON VOYAGE!

The blog has come to an end.
The trip is beginning.  So we start all over again!
10 days from now (at D+10!) I'll say again:
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
Listen to Billy Holiday again and fill in the blanks: 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS 
TO MISS NEW ORLEANS

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans

And miss it each ______________  and  _____________

I know I'm not wrong, the feeling's getting __________________

The longer I stay away

Miss the moss-covered vines, the tall sugar pines

Where mockingbirds used to  _____________

And I'd like to see the lazy _______________________

A-hurryin’ to  ____________

The ____________  ____________, the ____________________

Of Creole tunes that fill the air

I _______________ of oleander in June

And soon I'm wishing that I was there

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans

When that's where you left your ____________

And there's something more, I miss the one I care for

____________ ___________  I miss New Orleans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB17OJvX-qc

BON VOYAGE!

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE FOLLOWED THIS BLOG AND TRAVELLED WITH ME ON YOUR COMPUTER TO LOUISIANA.  I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED YOUR TRIP...AND YOU CAN RETURN WHENEVER YOU LIKE...THE BLOG WILL STILL BE THERE, FOR EVERYONE.  JUST GO TO ARCHIVES, ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF EACH PAGE.  CHOOSE THE MONTH, CHOOSE THE DAY.

THANKS ALSO TO THE MANY SOURCES I CONSULTED IN PREPARING THIS BLOG.

Your faithful blogger,
Jane  ...or.... Jambalaya Jane from the Cotton Fields and Way Down Yonder in New Orleans.....

61 (D-1) Returning to New Orleans: Leaving the city, taking the music with us

As we return to New Orleans to fly back to France, take a moment for food and music again --> One last VOA listening exercise for you. Much of this information you have already discovered during our journey on this blog.   But there is new information too. For example, do you know the difference between alligators and crocodiles?
Listen.  Then listen and read:
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/a-23-2009-01-22-voa1-83144227/130598.html

______________________________________________________________

More music...back to New Orleans, back to Louis Armstrong:
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans 
("yonder" = http://context.reverso.net/traduction/anglais-francais/down+yonder )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAvp7xm1aNA

And let's go to Billy Holiday again:
Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?  (1947)
I love this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhkxy3ei8os

And Louis Armstrong does this song too (1956):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5MNK0_X_Q

And Rick Nelson sang it too (in a 1960 film), and it's with subtitles:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pafQdX0jYg

And Dianne Reeves sings it beautifully too (1991).  And watch the video of New Orleans with the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AztENFJI8VQ

And Harry Connick, Jr.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8DPNrrXdx0

________________________________________________________________________

Do you know Hoagy Carmichael: 
New Orleans  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzfq3TQIefQ  (1932)

Dee Dee Bridgewater will be singing this song from her new album at the Jazz Festival in Vienne on June 27th.  Will I see you there?

Al Hirt, another famous trumpet player from New Orleans (one of my father's favorites) played this song too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4LpZAkju1M  (1987)

__________________________________________________

What they said about New Orleans:

Mark Twain: "New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin."

Bob Dylan: "There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better."

Tennessee Williams:  "America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland."  (Hey, that's not so nice for Clevelanders!)

and Françoise Sagan:  "You should celebrate the end of a love affair as they celebrate death in New Orleans, with songs, laughter, dancing and a lot of wine."

Jane says:  "We'll come back to New Orleans!"

60 (D-2) Practical Information: Time difference / Money / Fahrenheit / Miles/kms

A little practical information for the travelers.

1.  The United States has four time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.  When we went to New York in 2008 we were in the Eastern time zone and there were six hours difference; the Far West group experienced a 9-hour difference with Pacific Time.  Louisiana is on CDT Central Daylight Time (7 hours difference) which means that when we arrive at The Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, it will be 5:30 p.m. local time, but half past midnight for us who will have got up early in the morning on CEST, Central European Summer Time.  They are 7 hours behind us....or we are 7 hours ahead of them. My suggestion: do try to sleep on the plane so that you are awake enough to have your eyes open when we arrive!

2. Money:  Unfortunately, now this will be easy.  Why unfortunately?  Because we won't have to do much math converting dollars to euros.  For the lucky Far West travelers in 2010, $1 converted to 0.78 euros.  Today, $1 = 0.92 (rounded off) euros, almost $1 = 1€.
$1 = .92€         $6 = 5.52€
$2 = 1.84€       $7 = 6.44€
$3 = 2.76€       $8 = 7.36€
$4 = 3.68€       $9 = 8.28€
$5 = 4.60€      $10 = 9.20€

Coins : (Here are the most common ones; there are other coins you may see)
5 cents (a nickel) = 4.60 euro centimes

10 cents (a dime) = 9.20 cts

25 cents (a quarter) = 22.80 cts

50 cents (a half-dollar)  =  let's just say 50 cts! No more maths!

3.  The weather = Fahrenheit, not Celsius: (The conversions are the same as in 2010!) 

Celsius / Fahrenheit conversions below 

(and you can look at the quick way to calculate at the end of this list)

10°C = 50°F

11°C = 51.8°F

12°C = 53.6°F

13°C = 55.4°F

14°C = 57.2°F

15°C = 59°F

16°C = 60.8°F

17°C = 62.6°F

18°C = 64.4°F

19°C = 66.2°F

20°C = 68°F

21°C = 69.8°F

22°C = 71.6°F

23°C = 73.4°F

24°C = 75.2°F

25°C = 77°F

26C = 78.8°F

27°C = 80.6°F

28°C = 82.4°F

29°C = 84.2°F

30°C = 86°

STOP!

Converting Farenheit to Celsius: Sorry, more maths!

Example 70°F

70 - 30 = 40 

40 divided by 2 = 20 and add 10% (2)  = 22°C roughly

Another example:

86°F - 30 = 56 divided by 2 = 28; add 2.8 = 30.8°C roughly (a cinch = fastoche!  Example: This recipe is a cinch to make. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkW22a_gwmQ )

4.  Distances:  miles/ kilometers... A little more maths.

miles to kilometers -->  1 mile = 1.6 km

10 miles = 16km --> 60% more.

Quick calculation: you add 60%, easier : you add 50% plus 10%

Example 50 miles = 50 + 25 + 5 = 80 km.  Exact answer =

80.4672.  So that's not bad for a quick conversion.

Another example, 90 miles.

90 + 45 = 135;  135 + 9 = 144 km (exact answer = 144.84)

1 kilometer = 0.66 mile --->  You're subtracting (roughly) 40%

120km - 60 = 60  then add 12 (10%) = 72 miles ( more exactly 74.57 miles)  So, close enough.

What is easier maths or English?

Return to the blog tomorrow for more maths...No, more information about Louisiana in ENGLISH.

It will be just two days before we leave.

All your bags are packed?  Are you ready to go?

Jane

FYI (For Your Information) --> "math" (American spelling); "maths" (British spelling)