coonass

• coon-ass

Uncertain. Commonly explained through various dubious or outright disprovable folk etymologies, as discussed in Sexton's 2009 article "Cajun or Coonass? Exploring Ethnic Labels in French Louisiana Regional Discourse".

• IPA^(key): /ˈkunæs/
• Rhymes: -unæs

coonass (plural coonasses)

1. (sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) A Cajun (a member of the ethnic group descending from Acadia, living primarily in Southern Louisiana).

   Synonym: (dated as a slur) Cajun

   • 1971, Charlie Daniels, “Trudy”, in Charlie Daniels:

     Then I took off a-running like a motorcycle / Heard the bullets whining and the sirens wail / It took half the cops in Dallas County / Just to put one coonass boy in jail

• Some Cajuns have attempted to reclaim the word coonass, but these efforts have proven controversial. Some proudly identify with the word, whereas others find it insulting. Some consider its usage by non-Cajuns offensive; others do not. Yet others feel ambivalent or indifferent toward the word. See more at Wikipedia.

• →? Louisiana French: coonass
• →? Louisiana French: cul de chaoui (calque)

• hillbilly
• redneck

• cassoon

Perhaps borrowed from English coonass, of uncertain origin.

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /kunas/
• Rhymes: -as

coonass m (plural coonass)

1. (sometimes offensive, ethnic slur, Louisiana) coonass

   Synonym: (Louisiana) cul de chaoui m

   • 2010, Albert Valdman, Kevin J. Rottet, Barry Jean Ancelet, Richard Guidry, Thomas A. Klingler, Amanda LaFleur, Tamara Lindner, Michael D. Picone, Dominique Ryon, editors, Dictionary of Louisiana French: as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian communities, page 654:

     Peut-êt’ j’sus arien qu’ein couillon de coonass mais en v’là qu’que choge que mon je connais et que les maît’s d’école ont jamais voulu comprend'.

     Maybe I’m nothing but an old coonass, but there’s something that I know and that schoolteachers have never wanted to understand.

• See English section above.

• binacle
• bougali
• Cadien
• cou-rouge
• Sabine