My dad and grandfather's ducks
 

(As I sip on a bourbon and ice and wait for tomorrow's opener I am thinking back on my first duck hunt at the age of 5 in 1965. In the blind were my dad, my grandfather, one of my uncles and me. In another blind were 2 other uncles and my brother who was 14 years older than me. My grandfather spoke very little English thus the conversations were in French. For some of the ducks you may see two names. The names of the ducks that I learned were those familiar to my family who were from Acadia and St. Landry Parish. I married a girl from Kaplan in Vermillion Parish. My father-in-law (Dennis Broussard and his friend Otto Trahan) taught me the names used in Vermillion Parish so I included those also. For those of you who are interested these were the names of south Louisiana ducks all those years ago. I have put the English name, French name and spelling, minus the accent marks, and I did my best to also spell it phonetically.
Mallard = Canard Francais (French Duck) Ka na Fra say
Canvasback = Canard Cheval (Horse Duck) Ka na Shu val (named for the horse head like appearance of the duck's head)
Gray Duck = Chipeau (gadwall) She-peaux
Scaulp = Dos Gris (gray back) Dough-Gree (roll the "r" on gree)
Teal = Sarcelle Sar-sell
Blue Wing Teal = Sarcelle d' ete, (summer teal), Sarcelle de l'autominere (autumn teal), and Sarcelle de l'aile bleue (blue wing teal) Sar-sell de eye bleuh
Green Wing Teal= Sarcelle d'hiver (winter teal) Sar-sell de lee-vair, Sarcelle du nord (northern teal) Sar-sell do nord, and Sarcelle de l'aile verte
Pintail = Paille en queue (straw tail) Pie on cuha
Wood Duck = Canard Branchu (branch duck) Ka na Bron-shoe
Ring Neck Duck (Black Jack)= Canard Noir (Black Duck) Ka na Ne-wire
Mottled Duck =Canard Noir d'ete (Summer Black Duck) Ka na Ne-wire d' a-tay, and Canard des iles (Island duck) Ka na days eels
Black Mallard = Canard Noir du Nord (Northern Black Duck) Ka na Ne-wire do nord
Buffle Head = Marionette (Small Puppet) Mary-o-net
Red Head = Canard de tete rouge (Red head duck) Ka na duh tete rouge
Weigon = Canard d'Amerique (American Duck) Ka na duh A-mar-rike
Spoonbill = Canard d'Souchet (Shoveller Duck) Ka na Show-va-lour and Canard de bec cuillere (Spoonbill duck) Ka na duh beck koo-lu-eure
Golden Eye = Canard d'oile d'or (Golden eye duck) Ka na duh ohi duh orr
Coot = Poule d'eau (Water chicken) Pool-do
Gallinule = Rale bleu (Blue rail) rwow- belu
Marsh Hen = Rale poule d'eau (water chicken hen) rowo pool-do and Poule d'eau de marais (Water chicken of the marsh) Pool do duh mah-ray
American Merganser = Bec-Scie (Saw Bill) beck see
Red Breasted Merganser = Bec-Scie de Mer (Sea Saw Bill) beck see duh Mare
Hooded Merganser = Bec-Scie du lac (Saw Bill of the Lake) beck see duh lock and Bec-Scie du Cypriere (Cypress Swap Saw Bill) beck see duh See-pree-air
Blue Goose = Oie Aigle (Eagle Goose) oye a-guhla
Speckle belly Goose = Oie Caille (Speckled Goose) oye kye and Oie Nonnette (Young Nun Goose) oye non-nette
Canadian Goose = Oie Canadianne (Canadian Goose) oye ka-na-de-anne
Brant = La Branache (Brant) lah bh-na-ash
On a side note divers (Canvasbacks, Red-Heads, Scaulp, and Black-Jacks were referred to as Plongeur (diver) plon-geur.
A Grebe (a.k.a. Hell Diver) was known by two names: Manger du Plomb (lead eater) monjay do plome (long o) and as a Sac-a-plomb (bag led) sock ah plome
May all of you have a safe and successful hunt in the morning!
Tim

Excellent write up. Made my heart warm. Good luck and safe hunting to everyone too.

That's awesome!

That's cool as all get out! I love the old French!

that's really neat. thanks for posting it

bec croeche?
 

isn't there one called a bec croche (spelling?) for "crooked beak"? Kinda the opposite of a grosbec (big beak)? :)

They got em. But that's no duck. lol


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Nice write up

Do you pronounce it pool-dough or pool-dew

I was taught pool-dew but I hear people say pool-dough

Same here! I've always heard pool-dew. I think people in south east LA SAY POOL-dough...that's the only place I hear it that way...

Yep, a bec croche is the french name for a white or a glossy ibis and a
gros bec is the french name for a night heron or a Louisiana heron.
The old timers used to kill and eat both of these. They are protected now but they probably need to start eating the bec croches again, there are thousands of those goobers.

I have heard the same thing. It really has to do with the accent of the area.