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When a Yankee tries to fit in during a trip to New Orleans, the first bump you will encounter is the use of "yall." It is ubiquitous, obligatory and its absence quickly identifies you as a non-local.
Many, including me at first, don't realize yall has a possessive form. You could try to fit in by exuding Southern friendliness--saying "Hi Yall" to a group of strangers when you get on the St. Charles trolley for example--but when you say "How's your day going?" it's all over. Your? Where did "yall's" go?
Is there a contest to use as many yalls in a sentence as possible? For example, I once heard someone say to parkers without a trace of irony, "Yall can't park yall's car there if yall think yall are going to." Key word: yall.
Which brings us to parking. Many say in the Big Easy (also called the Crescent City or the City That Care Forgot") anything goes, especially during Carnival. Yes and no. Certainly drinking and inebriation, risque' costumes, even semi-nudity and partying are de rigueur, even possibly sex in the shadows but that doesn't mean you can park on the neutral ground. What do you think-- there are no rules here? Anything goes?
Many a Yankee doesn't even know what a neutral ground is--up North, it would be called a grassy knoll or parking median--much less how sacred it is in New Orleans. You never park on it. It is not civic minded. It identifies you as an outsider.
And there's another rule Yankees may not know. During Carnival you can do anything you want until 11:55 PM on Fat Tuesday but at precisely midnight, the police will clear the streets, even roughly with batons. Did you forget (or never even know!) that Carnival is a religious holiday and midnight begins Ash Wednesday--yall? So much for partying all night!
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