No story of New Orleans would be complete without a discussion of the Yat. They can come from the Nint [sic] Ward, the Seventh Ward, even the Parish but never, never from Uptown.

I like the way Chuck Taggert describes the term Yat in his Gumbo Page: "How ta tawk rite"

"Yat" is a term for the quintessential neighborhood New Orleanian. It's derived from the local greeting, "Where y'at!", although it tends not to be used by locals in the way it's used by outsiders. I never really heard the term while growing up, and neither did many of my fellow New Orleanians. It's come into casual acceptance, although the acknowledged expert on local speech, Bunny Matthews, hates the word and considers it a pejorative. Bunny told me he though that it's "the kind of thing that a Tulane student from the Northeast would come up with." Personally, I don't think Tulane students from the Northeast were that clever, but I respect Bunny's thoughts on the matter.

Are you a Yat?

Yat Speak

Vic and Nat'ly's cartoon characters created by New Orleanian Bunny Matthews. Sort of South Park grows up in the Holy Cross neighborhood of the "Nint Ward." Social commentary and a clear indictment of our decadence. Commercialized in print and on Leidenheimers delivery trucks. Became a restaurant, flooded, of course, moved to the north shore.

Benny Grunch