Don't Bouder? A note on the boudin etymology

In recent years Billeaud’s Meat and Grocery has used an ingenious marketing tool: the power of bilingual community slang, to sell the rice and meat sausage we know as boudin. 

When I was little we bought boudin behind the counter of gas stations and meat markets. Seeing it prepared fresh at the boucherie was rare for me. Most people lost familiarity with the vocabulary that surrounds the making of it. With English rapidly replacing French (we already about lost gratons for cracklins!), we sometimes absorb only figurative meaning of words. For example I knew a gueppe was a mean woman, and it took me years to learn that it actually meant "wasp". In childhood “to pout” was known as “boo-day” (bouder - to make boudin). When I  pouted, my uncles would grab my protruding bottom lip and exclaim, “gimme dat boudin!!” I was insulted by their flagrant disregard of my emotional angst, invasion of personal space and bemused at how they savored the imaginary “boudin” they would thank me for making for them. 

Fast forward 30 years and all the kids like me who were mocked, boudin-bottom lips stolen,  can now reminisce on these memories when they see The Billeaud’s billboards and t-shirts that exclaim, “Don’t boo-day, eat boudin!”.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank business like Billeaud’s who advertise with our special brand of franglais. It’s heart warming and makes me want to buy their smoked meats. But if you will allow me,  may I remind the general public that although boudin does make us happy, that that if one does not “bouder” (literally: to make boudin) then there will be no boudin to be had. Then we’ll all be pouting!