You know you are from Louisiana if...

* The crawdad mounds in your front yard have overtaken the grass.

* You greet people with "Howzyamomma'an'dem?" and hear back "Dey fine!"

* Every so often, you have waterfront property.

* When giving directions you use words like "uptown", "downtown", "backatown", "riverside", "lakeside", "other side of the bayou" or "other side of the levee.

* When you refer to a geographical location "way up North", you are referring to places like Shreveport, Little Rock or Memphis, "where it gets real cold"!

* Your burial plot is six feet over rather than six feet under.

* You've ever had Community Coffee.

* You can pronounce Tchoupitoulas but can't spell it. (also, Thibideaux, Opelousas, Ponchartrain, Ouachita, Atchafalaya,)

* You don't worry when you see ships riding higher in the river than the top of your house.

* You judge a po-boy by the number of napkins used.

* The waitress at your local sandwich shop tells you a fried oyster po-boy "dressed" is healthier than a Caesar salad.

* You know the definition of "dressed".

* You can eat Popeye's, Haydel's and Zapp's for lunch and wash it down with Barq's and several Abitas, without losing it all on your stoop.

* The four seasons in your year are: crawfish, shrimp, crab and King Cake.

* The smell of a crawfish boil turns you on more than HBO.

* You "wrench" your hands in the sink with an onion bar to get the crawfish smell off.

* You're not afraid when someone wants to "ax you something".

* You go by "ya-mom-en-`dems" on Good Friday for family supper.

* You don't learn until high school that Mardi Gras is not a national holiday.

* You don't realize until high school what a "county" is.

* You push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras beads.

* You believe that purple, green and gold look good together (and you will even eat things those colors)

* You go to buy a new winter coat (what most people refer to as windbreakers) and throw your arms up in the air to make sure it allows enough room to catch Mardi Gras beads.

* Your last name isn't pronounced the way it's spelled.

* You know what a nutria rat is but you still pick it to represent your baseball team.

* You have spent a summer afternoon on the Lake Pontchartrain seawall catching blue crabs.

* You describe a color as "K&B Purple".

* You like your rice and politics dirty.

* When given the choice for Governor between a KKK leader and Edwin Edwards, it's a difficult decision.

* You worry about a deceased family member returning in spring floods.

* You pronounce the largest city in the state as "Nawlins".

* A friend gets in trouble for roaches in his car and you wonder if it was palmettos or those little ones that go after the French Fries that fell under the seat.

* You know those big roaches can fly, but you're able to sleep at night anyway.

* You prefer skiing on the bayou.

* You assume everyone has mosquito swarms in their backyard.

* You realize the rainforest is less humid than Louisiana.

One night, a torrential rain soaked Southern Louisiana; the next morning the resulting floodwaters came up about 6 feet into most of the homes there.

Mrs. Boudreaux was sitting on her roof with her neighbor, Mrs.Thibodeaux, waiting for help to come. Mrs. Thibodeaux noticed a baseball cap, floating near the house.

Then she saw it float far out into the front yard, then float back to the house; it kept floating away from the house, then back towards house.

Her curiosity got the best of her, so she asked Mrs. Boudreaux, "Do you see dat dere baseball cap a floatin' away from the house, den back again?"

Mrs. Boudreaux said, "Oh yeah, dass my husband; I tole dat coonass he gonna cut the grass today, come hell or high water."

Pierre and Boudreaux was flying Cajun Airlines to da Mardi Gras. Boudreaux was flying da plane, and Pierre was in da back foolin wit da cargo equipment an stuff. 

Da plane hit some turbulence an started bouncin around and Boudreaux got knocked unconscious. Den da plane start driftin. Pierre come run up to da front an Boudreaux was sprawl out all over da steerin wheel. 

Well, Pierre don't know nuttin bout flyin an he start to get panaky. He grab da microphone and holla "May Day! May Day! Dis is Cajun Air Line 90210. Boudreaux, him knock unconscious an I don know nuttin about flyin dis plane!" 

"Dis is da control tower," Someone answer. "Don you worry a bout nittin. We gonna splain how you to land dis plane, step by sep, ah gar-own-tee! Jus leave anyting ta us. Fus, how high yu are, an whas you position?" 

Pierre thought a minute, den say, "I'm five foot ten an I'm all day wa to da front of da plane."

"No! No! No!" answer da tower. " What you altitude, an where you location?" 

Pierre say, "Man, rat now ah got a po attitude, an ah'm from Thibodeaux, Laweezeeanna!" 

" No! No! No!" came an exasperated voice. " Ah needs to know how many feet you got off da groun an how you plane in relation to da airport!" 

Pierre, he start to panic by dis time. He say, "Countin Boudreaux's feets an mine togedder, we got fo feet off da groun an I don beleieve dis plane related to you airport!" 

A long pause-----de silence was deafanin. 

"We needs to know whoo you next of kin."