Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA 70507)

Miscellaneous Cajun Jokes

A baby crawfish and its mother were walking along a ditch when the baby crawfish who had gone ahead, comes flying back down the ditch. The mother followed and asked, "What is the matter?" The baby crawfish answers, "Look that big thing right there." The mother says "Don't worry about that; it is just a cow." So they keep walking. Then the baby crawfish comes flying down again. The mother asked again, "What is the matter?" The baby says look at that thing right there. The mother says "That is just a dog; it will not hurt you," so they kept walking. Then suddenly the mother goes flying by the baby crawfish. The baby crawfish asked its mother what's wrong, and the mother said, "Run! That's a Cajun and they eat anything."

One day, a Cajun died and went to hell. The devil was making his rounds and saw the Cajun over in the corner having a party. "Hey, you! said the devil. "You're not supposed to be having a good time in hell. After all, it's burning hot in here."

"Oh," said the Cajun, "It's not that hot in here. It gets this hot in Louisiana in July."

The devil left but was determined to make it uncomfortable for the Cajun, so he turned up the temperature even more.

Later the devil passed back by the Cajun and saw him boiling crawfish and having an even better time. "Hey!" said the devil. "You stop that! You're not supposed to be enjoying yourself in here. This is hell and it's burning hot in here."

"It's no big deal," said the Cajun. "It gets this hot in Louisiana in August."

The devil left very angry at the Cajun and determined to make him uncomfortable. "Okay," said the devil. "If you like the heat, I'm going to make it cold", and then turned down the thermostat until it was freezing cold.

When he went back to check on the Cajun, he saw from afar that the Cajun was jumping up and down in a frenzy, throwing up his hands, laughing and smiling. "This is really too much!! Why is he so happy?" As he got close to the Cajun, he heard him shout "The Saints won the Super Bowl!! The Saints won the Super Bowl!!"

A Cajun went to a store looking for detergent. The store clerk asked if he had lot of clothing to wash. The Cajun said, "No, I need it to wash my dog." The clerk warned him: "It is strong. It will make the dog sick or even kill the dog." The Cajun kept it anyway and went to pay for it. One week later, the Cajun went back to buy beer. When he went to pay it, the clerk ask "How is your dog?" The Cajun said that the dog died. The clerk didn't wanted to be mean and say "I told you so," so he just asked what did it. The Cajun said, "I think it was the spin cycle

Emile was driving his pickumup truck down the levee pretty fast one day. A Louisiana State Trooper spotted Emile, and took off after him, but Emile just kept going faster and faster. The trooper turned his lights and siren on, but Emile just kept going. After about twenty miles, Emile ran out of gas, and had to stop. The trooper jumped out of his car yelling at Emile, "Why didn't you stop ? I know you saw me !" Emile replies, "Well, officer, I'm truly sorry for dat. But you see, a few years ago my wife, Marie, she ran off wid a state trooper, and when I saw you, I thought you was him tryin' to bring her back. So I was tryin' to get away fast.

Den dare was da time dat Guidry boy went to da lumberyard, Fred Mills lumber yard and he said he wanted to buy some 4 by 2's and Mr. Fred say, "Well, we don't have any 4 by 2's", he say, "We have some 2 by 4's." And da Guidry boy say, "Well, my Popa's kinda particular, I better go check wit him." So he come back about an hour later and Mr. Fred say, "You figured out what you want?", "Yeah," Guidry said, "My Popa said since you outta dem 4 by 2's, he tink he can make dem 2 by 4's fit." "Well, okay," Mr. Fred say, "How long do you want them?" "Oh", Guidry say "He gonna need 'em awhile, he plan on building a house!"

Arceneaux was driving trew Breaux Bridge late one night and da police pulled him over and went and tap on his window and he roll down da window and da policeman say, "Could I see your driver license?" so he show him his driver license. He said, "Mr. Arceneaux, you were speeding" and Arceneauxx said, "No sir , I wasn't." He said, "Mr. Arceneaux, you were speeding. Da speed limit trew town is 25 and you was doing 75". He said, "No sir, I wasn't speeding," he say, "And I got me a witness". He said, "What do you mean, you got a witness?" He said, "I got my wife, she's in da car wit me." So he walk around to da other side of da car, he tap on da window and Ms. Arceneaux roll down da window. He say, "Ms. Arceneaux, was Mr. Arceneaux speeding?" She say, "Well, I don't know." She say, "I never pay no tention to him when he's drunk!"

[For this one, it helps to know a little French.]

A few years ago, the School Board hired an American teacher, fresh out of college, to teach first grade at a little school way up the bayou. The new teacher was having a rough time, since her first graders spoke very little English (and, of course, she didn't speak French). She thought, "If only I could teach them to count to ten in English, I will have accomplished something," so with that in mind she began the lesson. "Class," she said, "say 'one.' The class responded, "One." "Very good, class," she said. "Now, say 'two.'" And they all left.

[Explanation: "Say 'two'" in English sounds just like "C'est tout" in French. C'est tout means "That's all."]

Once a social worker had been given a referral about some children who were in some need, so she went out to make a home visit. It took her a while to find the house but finally she found the house way back in the marsh south of Gueydan. When she knocked on the front door, a little boy, about 12 years old opened the door. "Hello, young man, may I speak to your father." "My papa ain't here no more," the boy said. "About six months ago, he went crazy and dey took him to the crazy house in Pineville." "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Is your mother home?" "Mais no, about tree months ago, my mama went crazy, too, and dey took her to the crazy house in Pineville." The social worker was overcome with sympathy for the boy and asked, "Well, surely you don't live here by yourself." "Mais, no, my brother Toffele is in the back." "Well," asked the social worker, "can I talk to him?" "I don't tink so,"answered the boy. "My brother Toffele tinks he's a chicken." "I hate to say this," said the social worker, but don't you think your brother should go to Pineville to be treated, like your father and mother." "Mais no," exclaimed the boy, "we need dem eggs!"

Early one morning, Tee Jean was walking along the bank of Bayou Que de Tortue behind his house. All of a sudden, he noticed that the family outhouse, located right on the bank, was tilting dangerously toward the bayou; the heavy downpour from the previous night had serious eroded the bank where the outhouse was located. Being a boy (and a pretty canaille one at that) and reasoning that the outhouse was beyond salvage, Tee Jean picked up a big stick and whacked the outhouse - really peléed it - and watched as the outhouse toppled over, fell into the bayou, and quickly sank under the muddy waters. A few hours later, Tee Jean's father came up to him and with anger in his voice asked, "Tee Jean, did you knock that outhouse into the bayou?" "Papa," the boy answered, "like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie. I did it." "Mais, Tee Jean, come with me maintenant to the woodshed. You are going to get the whipping of your life!" Tee Jean was shocked by this turn of events and said, "Papa, when George Washington told his papa that he had chopped down the cherry tree, his papa didn't give him a whipping." "Mais no, Tee Jean," said his father, "but George Washington's papa wasn't in that cherry tree when he cut it down, either."