Anyway, trying to stay blog subject focused, the question is this: Would Conan be considered Cajun even if he had no Acadian heritage? Let's say he spoke perfect Louisiana French but not of the Abbeville or Erath style. He cooked a great gumbo, pocked eggs every Easter, bought panse (pounce as spelled) at Teet's and liked to go fishing a lot at Butte La Rose. However, he wasn't exactly the "brightest star in the night," liked to get drunk too much and fought too much in the bars. He could only count to 9 because one finger was cut off during his many bar fights. Now, his ancestry was French, Spanish and some Native American. Neither him nor his neighbors had any Acadian ancestry or even if some did, they had no Acadian culture because his area was heavily populated and cultured by the French, African and Spanish people. It all depends on what time he lived whether he would be considered Creole or Cajun. I posted this quote more than once but I like it and it puts things into context:
History of Avoyelles Parish,
Louisiana - by Corinne L. Saucier. New Orleans, LA : Pelican, c1943.
“The word “Acadian" is now
never heard. A prosperous or educated Acadian is called a "Creole."
An ignorant, or poor person, or tacky person, even though Creole in origin, may
be called a Cajun. Words have a history just like persons, and their meanings
change very often. In this age of rapid economic changes a Creole today may be
a Cajun tomorrow or vice-versa. It is all a matter of affluence and no longer
origin, as it was a century ago. This is a democratic age, as one can verify at
every turn. “(102)