In reply to the interesting discussion about the definition of a bayou, I
recently asked the same question to the Cajun marine biologist fella I work
with. He is native to Bayou du Large, south of Homa, Louisiana. According to
him, a bayou is a specific hydrofeature, and not a slang term for any murky
slowmoving body of water. He distinguishes the bayou from the surrounding
marsh, he calls it, which is a flat and grass covered expanse. The bayou is a
dead end inlet that is flushed by tides once a day in his native region. Bayous
are typically separated by fairly narrow finger ridges covered by bottomland
hardwoods. To live "on the bayou" is to live on this ridge with your property
backing down to the water. I would give this guy some weight on the matter, he
grew up trawling shrimp with his daddy and running around in what he calls a
"mud boat", a plywood skiff where you sit on top a v6 hooked up to an inboard
shaft. It's also a Cajun term I'm pretty sure, but in the south linguistics are
very easily corrupted to mean other things, it seems. Any Cajuns out there
should put in a word about it.
Ben Lieb
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