I Need Expert Advice

[Mathias]

This is a friend of mathias' i am asking this of you because for some reason without knowing you guys he has put faith in you for some kind of army or something of lycanthropic beings. IDK it's heavy man. So look i need to know something about werewolves, first off can someone tell me about louisiana and werewolf lore there, hear that is were it takes it's origins in 18th century, louisiana, thank you.
John Merek

[Xzengrim]

Yo. Werewolf lore in Louisiana came from the French. It first became established from legends that French fur traders and trappers brought down the Mississippi with them, collected both from the Indians along the way and from their own legends back home. The bayou was one of the three or four places that the distinctive "loup-garou" legends came from (Loup-garou not just being a werewolf, but being a distinctive kind of werewolf cobbled together from archaic French and from the Native Americans). I had some webpages about it once, I'll see if I can find them.
I also remember that according to the French folklore down there, there is a cure for lycanthropy. The a person must call the werewolf by its true Christian name, and must take blood from the creature (at least three drops). The werewolf would then revert back to human form. From that point on, nobody could speak of the werewolf or of wolves or werewolves or anything involved for one hundred days. After that point, the afflicted individual would be cured (assuming that nobody opened their stupid yap.)

I don't think there is a lycanthropic army. But everyone here would support it if there was, and would like to join it if we could. They're just making make-believe so far.

[GhostBat]

Not this again...first off, why would anyone organize a lycanthropic army? If you say "to save the world" i'll have to do something drastic...lol. Second, if for some [weird] reason an army is being organized, why only lycanthropes? Seems prejudice to me. :shrug:

[Loups_Garou]

It's L-O-U-P-S G-A-R-O-U pronounced like loop garoh. And the Loups Garou is a legend from France as well as that cure you said about speakin the Werewolves christian name, drawing it's blood and not speaking of it for 100 days. The Loups Garou of Louisiana are pretty much the same except with some Native American legends mixed in, like the Loups Garou ball, when all the werewolves in an area would gather during the full moon and have have a party and feast on humans. Another thing is that in some legends the Loups Garou was depicted as more of a dog than a wolf in Louisiana, being more of a swamp monster having thiner muddy brown fur, a short or no tail, and they would wait under water and than jump out and attack river boats and the like. These are all just legends tho, and most werewolf legends are pretty innacurate mind you.

[purinpuff]

It's L-O-U-P-S G-A-R-O-U pronounced like loop garoh.

Isn't it more like "loo garoo?"

[Loups_Garou]

No, no it isn't. Lous Gareux would be pronounced like loo garoo.

[Wraywolf]

MOr liek loop GAYro lolololololololololo l!!111

Anyway, so I actually add something to the convosation...

I never really thought about french werewolf lore. I was always more interested in the british lore and mexicano.

[Totah Sam]

French, from Old French leu garoul : leu, wolf (from Latin lupus. See wkwo- in Indo-European Roots) + garoul, werewolf (of Germanic origin. See w-ro- in Indo-European Roots).]

\Loup`-ga`rou"\, n.; pl. Loups-garous. [F., fr. loup wolf + a Teutonic word akin to E. werewolf.] A werewolf; a lycanthrope.

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Has absolutely nothing to do with native american lore, language or history. Native American folklore has it's own monsters, werewolves aren't one of them. Not in the European sense. :p

[Xzengrim]

A French-speaking friend of mine said that it IS pronounced Loo Gharou. Although, she said that the did not recognize the word "garou". It IS French, but I believe it's one of those archaic words that the French don't use anymore.

[Loups_Garou]

Tell that "French-speaking" friend of yours to take some more language classes, the 's' is silent not the 'p' I've asked some of my relatives, who are French and some still live in France, and that's how they all said it was pronounced so don't tell me how to speak my own language.

[Feralchylde]

Native American lore has their versions of shapeshifters- the ones I know of include Skinwalkers, Coyote the trickster, and Eagleboy.
Shapeshifters are found all over the world, it's not just in Europe.
Werejaguars in Central and South America, Weretigers in Asia, Werecrocodiles in Africa, the list goes on.

[Loups_Garou]

French, from Old French leu garoul : leu, wolf (from Latin lupus. See wkwo- in Indo-European Roots) + garoul, werewolf (of Germanic origin. See w-ro- in Indo-European Roots).]

\Loup`-ga`rou"\, n.; pl. Loups-garous. [F., fr. loup wolf + a Teutonic word akin to E. werewolf.] A werewolf; a lycanthrope.

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Has absolutely nothing to do with native american lore, language or history. Native American folklore has it's own monsters, werewolves aren't one of them. Not in the European sense. :p

I didn't say Native American werewolf stories, just stories about wolf/dog-like monsters, shapeshifter or no, mixed in a little with the French Loups Garou stories down there that's all.

[Xzengrim]

"Tell that "French-speaking" friend of yours to take some more language classes, the 's' is silent not the 'p' I've asked some of my relatives, who are French and some still live in France, and that's how they all said it was pronounced so don't tell me how to speak my own language."

Jeez; take a pill! I was just trying to help! Excuse me for not being French!

I'm German. Don't make me bend you over.


Okay, I didin't mean that last part. But calm down wouldja?

[Black Wolf]

"Tell that "French-speaking" friend of yours to take some more language classes, the 's' is silent not the 'p' I've asked some of my relatives, who are French and some still live in France, and that's how they all said it was pronounced so don't tell me how to speak my own language."




Actually, the 'P' is silent in this case. I took french classes from grade 1 all the way up to OAC (grade 13 for those of you who don't live in the Ontario area). So 'Loups-Garou' is actually pronounced 'loo ga-roo'.

Of course, that could only be applicable to what is known as 'Quebecquois', which is the version of french that they speak in Quebec and what they've been teaching us kanuckle-heads up until now. Even with over thirteen years of experience with the language I still have trouble understanding what they're saying half the time. The canadian accent is apparently a lot different then the actual french one, but from what I've heard it's mostly just a matter of intonation, not actual pronunciation. And don't even get me started on the Louisiana accent.

As for knowing how to speak your own language.....

Je ne pense pas que tu sais comment parler la francais si bien pour que vu pouvais disais ca. Si tu peux parlais la francais, prouvais le, et garder vos emotions en reins quands vous faites votre argument la prochaine fois.


Btw, there's probably a few grammar errors in there, so don't bother pointing them out. I was always better at speaking the language then writing it.

[Loups_Garou]

Yes there were a few but I think i understand what you said, btw I'm not that great at writin in french either. I wasn't getting angry at xzen or tryin to start and argument, I'm sorry if it came across like that, I'm just sayin that I've asked my relatives who are french how it's pronounced and that's how they said it, and since they've been speaking french their whole lives that's the way I say it, and since it is a French word and that's the way all the French ppl I know pronounce it that's the way I think it should be pronounced.

[Black Wolf]

Yes there were a few but I think i understand what you said, btw I'm not that great at writin in french either. I wasn't getting angry at xzen or tryin to start and argument, I'm sorry if it came across like that, I'm just sayin that I've asked my relatives who are french how it's pronounced and that's how they said it, and since they've been speaking french their whole lives that's the way I say it, and since it is a French word and that's the way all the French ppl I know pronounce it that's the way I think it should be pronounced.

That's cool. All I'm saying is try not to get riled up about it.

[McKitty]

So what if he says' tomato' and she says 'tomato', let's just call the whole thing off, hmm?

I mean, it's only a word, no need to spill tears over it. Besides, what you REALLY should be worrying about is this nutso idea about a 'Lycanthropic' army. So now people are making an army about crazies who howl at the moon and attack others for they believe themselves to be 'werewolves'? *shudder*

If you go by the pathological terms of Lycanthropy ....wouldn't want them by me at the front lines.

[punisher]

"So what if he says' tomato' and she says 'tomato', let's just call the whole thing off, hmm?"

That's exactly how it comes about. It's the Cajun or French-Canadian accent.

[CanuckCartoonist]

Hmm...just wanted to gives some clarification since this doesnt come from a friend of a friend or whatever but from me. Im french and ive had to learn english so im pretty sure i got it right :P

Loup-Garou should be pronounced Lou Garhou.

Something that adds to that fact is that a wolf in french is a Loup, and pronounced Lou.

As far as Loop garoo prononciation, its likely to having been first used in southern USA, like in Louisiana or something, since the cajun accent mixes english and french heavily, and since its spelled Loup-Garou, people from those regions started calling werewolves ''Loop Garoos''

Ive seen quite a few movies and shows from Louisiana where it was pronounced Loop, but i can assure you, throughout Europe and in Canada, its ''Lou''

And to think i registered to type this..blegh, seems im on the defensive when it comes to french *whistles innocently*