I just got reprimanded by a Cajun who said that was a highly offensive term. My mother used to call her Cajun friends that - we lived in New Orleans when I was an infant but I should have known better with today's political climate.

AstonAg said:

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I just got reprimanded by a Cajun who said that was a highly offensive term. My mother used to call her Cajun friends that - we lived in New Orleans when I was an infant but I should have known better with today's political climate.

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It is a highly offensive term. I only say it when I'm trying to insult coonass trash from Louisiana, America's 3rd world ****-hole.

My dad's side of the family is from Louisiana and I've never seen one of them get offended at being called a coon ass.

I once said swamp ass in Louisiana at a gas station, I got out of there fast

When I was young, whenever I did something dumb around my dad he would just say "Aggie".

I guess I showed him though, cause I has an Ag Tag.

When I was in Boy Scouts in the anew Orleans are decades ago, I was in the Coonass patrol.

To me, it always sounded more offensive than it was. Probably because of the first half of the term.

Coons? Well raccoons tried to get in our back porch, Momma just chase 'em off with a broom

I only use it when my friend, from Louisiana, who I can't understand after a few rounds at the chilcken. I also call him boomhower.

You should tell him that you're sorry he's a coonass

I thought coonass was like honkey or redneck - a word that could be offensive except the target groups aren't ashamed of being a honkey or a redneck?

My friend from Louisiana refers to himself as a coonass all the time. I've never heard of a Louisianan who gets offended at the term

My extended family is Bayou coona** . They have no problems with being called that name. Neither do I for that matter.

Swampass >

Tell them to go to their safe swamp.

I've used that phrase to quite a few folks from that area and they've never told me they were offended; always just laughed and shrugged.

Being called a peckerwood is worse, in my estimation.

Born in Louisiana. My dad used to say the difference between a coonass and a cajun was that a coonass had a mudline up to his ankles, a cajun had a mudline up to his knees. A north-south Louisiana thing, if you will. I don't know if that's correct but it sounds good.

Oh, and this-

"The most popular folk etymology, however, stems from late Louisiana congressman and cultural activist James "Jimmy" Domengeaux, who maintained that "coonass" derived from the continental French word connasse.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-2][2][/url] According to the French Wiktionary, the French Larousse dictionary, and the French Wikipedia, connasse entered the French language at the beginning of the 19th century and the term translates loosely to "dirty prostitute". Domengeaux asserted that Frenchmen used the term in reference to Cajun soldiers serving in France during World War II, and that Anglo-American soldiers overheard the term, transformed it into "coonass" and brought it back to the US as a disparaging term for Cajuns. Citing Domengeaux's etymology, Louisiana legislators passed a concurrent resolution in the 1980s condemning the word. Contrary to popular belief, the lawmakers did not ban the term.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-Bernard2003-1][1][/url]: 9697 Research has since disproved Domengeaux's connasse etymology. Indeed, photographic evidence shows that Cajuns themselves used the term prior to the time in which connasse allegedly morphed into "coonass".[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-Bernard2003-1][1][/url]: 97"

How could anything meaning "dirty prostitute" translate other than loosely?

It's one of those insults that the recipient just ended up owning proudly.

But it's a new age and we need to be angry so....

normaleagle05 said:

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How could anything meaning "dirty prostitute" translate other than loosely?

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Blue star for this. Well done.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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Born in Louisiana. My dad used to say the difference between a coonass and a cajun was that a coonass had a mudline up to his ankles, a cajun had a mudline up to his knees. A north-south Louisiana thing, if you will. I don't know if that's correct but it sounds good.

Oh, and this-

"The most popular folk etymology, however, stems from late Louisiana congressman and cultural activist James "Jimmy" Domengeaux, who maintained that "coonass" derived from the continental French word connasse.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-2][2][/url] According to the French Wiktionary, the French Larousse dictionary, and the French Wikipedia, connasse entered the French language at the beginning of the 19th century and the term translates loosely to "dirty prostitute". Domengeaux asserted that Frenchmen used the term in reference to Cajun soldiers serving in France during World War II, and that Anglo-American soldiers overheard the term, transformed it into "coonass" and brought it back to the US as a disparaging term for Cajuns. Citing Domengeaux's etymology, Louisiana legislators passed a concurrent resolution in the 1980s condemning the word. Contrary to popular belief, the lawmakers did not ban the term.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-Bernard2003-1][1][/url]: 9697 Research has since disproved Domengeaux's connasse etymology. Indeed, photographic evidence shows that Cajuns themselves used the term prior to the time in which connasse allegedly morphed into "coonass".[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass#cite_note-Bernard2003-1][1][/url]: 97"

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Yeah my family is all from Simmesport. A tiny town on LA 1 on the Atchafalaya river.

When used in a derivative manner by somewhere not from here it does piss me off. Mostly just annoying when Texans don't know the difference between Cajun, creole, coonass and just use them all interchangeably or apply to people not from south Louisiana.

Rusty GCS said:

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When used in a derivative manner by somewhere not from here it does piss me off. Mostly just annoying when Texans don't know the difference between Cajun, creole, coonass and just use them all interchangeably or apply to people not from south Louisiana.

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Interesting science fact: There is no difference.

Lived there a few years and the way it was explained to me was people from Louisiana could say it to each other, but no one else. Kind of like Aggie jokes, it's only funny if an Aggie tells the joke. Wasn't offensive really, just sort of like southern courtesy.

I remember going to the A&M @ LSU football game way back in 1988. I had a tailgating LSU fan ask me the difference between a c00nass and an a**hole on the way into the game.

It was the Sabine River.

I used it on FB last week and got a 24 hour ban

As someone who spent 37 years living in Terrebonne Parish, c00nass was always used as a term-of-endearment. I've never seen someone get upset about it when used as such. However, if someone starts using it as an insult, it becomes one, of course. I've seen a few bumper stickers with "registered c00nass" on them in my day.

I think it's ok to use for someone you know well as sort of a friendly joking derogatory reference, but I wouldn't use it with someone you aren't very familiar with.

PoohAh97 said:

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Rusty GCS said:

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When used in a derivative manner by somewhere not from here it does piss me off. Mostly just annoying when Texans don't know the difference between Cajun, creole, coonass and just use them all interchangeably or apply to people not from south Louisiana.

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Interesting science fact: There is no difference.

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It's like "Aggie"….you wear it with pride.