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Verbal Lore: folk speach, slang- associated, Material, food lore

English

United States of America

Context:  A New Orleans sandwich served on french bread and traditionally containing some sort of meat, mayonaise, lettuce and tomato. Similar to a submarine sandwich. Name originally was “poor boy” then shortened to po’boy.

Informamnt:Libby Flint, age 59, New Orleans resident of 36 years, originally from Upstate New York and Vermont. Collected May 22, 2016 and recorded on iphone.

Transcript:

“ New Orleanians have many unique word related to their food. The ‘poboy sandwich’ is a submarine sandwich made on French bread, termed that because  a whole sandwich could feed a poor family.”

 

Informant:Brian Flint, age 23, Metairie, LA, collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on an iphone.

Transcript:

“The next one is ‘po’boy sandwich’, so that’s basically a New Orleans Style sandwich. They would have  these sandwiches served to- actually got their names from some streetcar drivers that were on strike and needed something to  eat and the local restaurants served them theses sandwiches and they took the name because they felt pity for them, so they called them  the ‘poor boy sandwich’ which became po’boy.”

 

Informant: Caitlin Flint, age 21, Metairie, LA, collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on an iphone.

Transcript:

“The fourth bit of slang is food slang- so a ‘po’boy.’ A po’boy is a type of sandwich, it is on, it is a, very similar to a sub, it is on French bread which is very crispy and crunch on the outside, very very soft and fluffy on the inside. White bread.. it usually has mayonnaise on it, and some sort of meat, whether that meat is some sort of deli meat, or cooked roast beef, or fried fish or even grilled fish. Honestly it depends on which particular shop you are buying to po’boy from. Po’boys are a traditional New Orleans Food, its basically a sandwich, but there are little twists that make it a little bit different. The original phrase po’boy is basically a shortening of the two words ‘poor’ ‘boy’ so in some restaurants you will see it advertised as a ‘poor boy’, but that is a lot more difficult to say, especially if you are speaking with a genuine New Orleans accent. Which I don’t actually possess. A po’ boy, originally it comes from when, immigrants to new Orleans, decided they wanted to start making and selling food that was easy to hold while they worked, like most sandwich stories, they took meat and vegetable and put it in between soft baguettes- French bread- and then they made a sandwich. And because it was being sold to the working class they were called ‘poor boys’ that obviously then devolved into po’boy, and so po’ boys are a quintessential New Orleans thing, My personal type of po’boy is grilled shrimp with mayonnaise lettuce, Tomato, and hot sauce.”

 

Informant: Erin Fell, age 21, New Orleans, collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on an iphone

Transcript: Next is “Po’boy.” It comes from the words “poor boy.” It was a sandwich with lots of toppings on it that was very cheap for people to buy. Um, it is similar to a Subway sandwich or a hoagie, but um, it is made with French bread. This is typical to the Louisiana tradition. A Po’boy, if it’s dressed, that means that it has the typical toppings on it like lettuce and tomato and all that good stuff. A debris Po’boy from Mother’s, it’s a restaurant on Poydras Street. That means that that means that it’s the little bits of pork and meats that come off of the main roast while you’re cooking. It’s those little juicy bits at the bottom of the pan. That’s a debris po’boy.

Informant info: (Left to Right) Sadhana Puri, age 20, Jessica Link, age 20, Alex Ledoux, age 21 all from New Orleans, LA

 

Transcript:

“Jessica: po’boy

Alex: Segway to po’boy.

Jessica: Dressed.

Sadhana: Po’boy and dressed, yeah.

Katelyn: Yeah, those two.

Alex: Yeah, dressed is really an important word to say.  So I actually find that

Sadhana: We should actually talk about po’boys, what are they?

Alex: Po’boys are sandwiches like but on French Bread

Sadhana: But where-

Jessica: But

Sadhana: But where did it originate, so it was originally poor boy

Jessica: my mom and my grandma still say poor boy.

Alex: Yeah my grandmother still says poor boy.

Sadhana: Some people do.

Sadhana: I thought it was just people who were from out of state  who come to New Orleans and say poor boy.

Jessica: No no it’s definitely like ah-

Alex: That’s like-

Jessica:  It’s called that because like that’s what the poor boys ate.  When there were poor boys in the olden days.

Sadhana:  It’s a really simple sandwich

Jessica: It’s like

Alex: It’s usually made with like the left overs

Sadhana:  That’s also the other thing.

Jessica:  Yeah it’s like French Bread and meat and stuff. I remember I got mad because there was a New York Times quiz last year that was trying to determine where you’re from,  because it was a quiz.  Um by what you say.  And it was like what do you call a long sandwich.

Sadhana: It was like a hoagie

Jessica: And it was like a sub a hoagie or a po’boy.  And of course I chose po’boy, but to me a sub and a po’boy are different. .

Alex: Yeah.

Jessica: Like a  po’boy is a very specific type of sub

Alex: Like a po’ boy is only on French bread.  Where as like a sub can be like on all those fancy things at subway.  Like wheat.

Jessica: exactly, yeah.

Sadhana: And they’re also dressed a certain way.

Alex: They’re dressed.  Oh yeah, i have a little story, so dressed.  So I had some friends form Dartmouth who were going to go down to New Orleans.  And they were like tell us all the non-touristy places to go.  So I told them to go to Parkway, which is actually where I met both of them for the first time.

Jessica: Oh my god that is…

Sadhana:   That is true, we ate po’boys for the first time we met.

Alex:  It’s one of those

Sadhana:  I had mine dressed

Alex: It’s one of those more famous po’boy places, yeah.  And I was like you need to ask to get it dressed.  And dressed means like you have everything.

Jessica: Yeah you just have all the toppings,

Alex: You have all the toppings, what are the toppings.  Mayonnaise lettuce tomato

Sadhana: Mayonnaise, tomato

Jessica: Mayonnaise, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes,

Alex:  Then whatever if you want like fried shrimp or like fried oysters.  What else do they have? I always get friend oysters.

Sadhana: Well that’s not considered dressed, that’s just what the po’boy is.

Alex: Yeah I know but like whatever meat.

Jessica:  roast beef is my favorite.

Sadhana: Yeah so there is fried oyster and roast beef.  Uh my favorite is fried oyster.  Only available on Mondays and Wednesdays at parkway,

Jessica: I didn’t know that.

Sadhana: The only days I go there.  That’s m favorite sandwich.

Jessica: But you can say like dressed without the pickles because I say that. And that’s interpreted, they understand that.

Sadhana: Like my dad says dressed without the mayonnaise.  He really doesn’t like mayonnaise.”

Collectors Commentary:

Keywords: New Orleans, po’boy, poboy, poor boy, sandwich, dressed, debris

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