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Cajun Household Wisdom: "You Know You Still Alive If It's Costin' You Money!"

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Atchity knows what he's talking about. The pithy sayings herein have been collected over a lifetime, not only from the kitchens where big family dinners were eaten, but the back porches where some of the best talking happened after the cousins had gone home. Spelling-wise, he sets down the collected sayings mostly as his ear caught them and how they're pronounced in French Louisiana (e.g. sha instead of the French cher). He throws in a small glossary at the end of the book, and where the sayings need extra context (not often), adds a little commentary.

"If he's so smart, how come he allays has sumptin' ta do?"

"You in big trouble w'en you have ta apologize foh bein' yo'self."

"You doan got ta look too much below de surface if you got enough surface." (With a short paragraph explaining how in rice farming country, land doesn't have to have gold in it or oil under it; a lot of land in itself is good.)

"Dere got ta be sumptin' ta him - 'cause nobody laks him."

"She's as noivous as de cat in a room full of rockers."

"Doan waste yo' time wid little t'oughts. Scare yo'self big!"

Not that the book is *just* family wisdom; Atchity alternates batches of sayings with small primers about the Cajun way, as well as some candid photos. :) "How Dey Got Dis-A-Way" (just what it says, which also points out that "Creole" is defined one way in South Louisiana where Atchity was born, and another way in New Orleans - and that New Orleans is distinct from 'South Louisiana'.). In "Learning the Ropes", Atchity illustrates a typical characteristic (doing everything 'in a way 10 times harder than necessary') with his mother's long fight to bring in a catfish - and she *still* hadn't brought a net (photo to prove that it took 3 of her lures). "A Happy Death" (at Jax Brewery) is a good story. "Vivre Pour Manger: Live to Eat" (love that Cajun food), "Life Preservers in the Sea of Stories" (Churchill *stole* that alligator story!), and "Poetic Justice" ('nother good funny story).