Louisiana Voices Educator's Guide  
Getting Started With This Guide  
Study Guide Summary  
Outline of the Study Guide  
Study Unit I Defining Terms  
Study Unit II Fieldwork Basics  
Study Unit III Discovering the Obvious: Our Lives as "The Folk"  
Study Unit IV The State of Our Lives: Being a Louisiana Neighbor  
Study Unit V Oral Traditions--Swapping Stories  
Study Unit VI Louisiana's Musical Landscape  
Study Unit VII Material Culture-The Stuff of Life  
Study Unit VIII The Worlds of Work and Play  
Study Unit IX The Seasonal Round and Life Cycles  
Educator's Links  
Educator's Guide Glossary  
Educator's Guide Credits  
Educator's Opportunities For Professional Development  
Join The Community
Louisiana Folklife website Homepage  
Louisiana Folklife Program Home  
Louisiana's Living Traditions: Articles, Photos and Virtual Exhibits about Louisiana Folklife  

   

 

"Does He Drive, Too?" #130 Swapping Stories
A.J. Smith, Lake Charles, Louisiana

 

You know, Fond de Culotte was my uncle. That was the best man I ever knew. Used to bring me everywhere. Brought me fishing when I was a little boy. We were out fishing. Man, we hooked into the biggest fish. It felt like a freight train. Man, we was fighting, and it was going everywhere. And, finally, it snagged up. You could pull and pull, and it wouldn't go nowhere, you know. He said, "Boy, here's a good lesson." He say, "You follow that line, down under the water. When you find out what it's hang up on," he say, "get it loose. We going get the fish."

"Well," I said, "okay, I'm going to do it." So, I followed the string, down the water like that, you know? After a while, I came up. I said, "Fond de Culotte, cut the string, man, cut the string."

He say, "How come?"

"Well," I say, "you got about a fifty-three-pound catfish down there. In the back seat of a '57 Buick."

"Well," he said, "Pull him out! Pull him out!"

I said, "I tried. But he put the window up on me!"

[Audience laughs.]

 

Notes to the Teacher: AT 1960B, The Great Fish (X1301). Fond de Culotte--which literally means "seat of the pants" in Cajun--is a tit-nom, or nickname, applied to a foolish person.


About the Transcriptions

 

National Endowment for the Arts.

 
Folklife in Louisiana Home | Living Traditions Home | Louisiana Voices Educator's Guide
Overview of Louisiana's Traditional Cultures | Folklife Program Introduction |
Planning and Funding Folklife Projects | Opportunities for Professional Development
Links | Credits | Contact Us/Link to Us
Louisiana Division of the Arts | Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism
© 1999-2012 Louisiana Division of the Arts,
PO Box 44247, Baton Rouge, LA 70804, tel 225-342-8180

Questions about this site? Contact Maida Owens, folklife@crt.la.gov.