Street
beaucoup
What does beaucoup mean?
French for 'a lot', absorbed wholesale into New Orleans English and spelled phonetically as 'bookoo' or 'boocoo' when it gets really local. Used as both an adjective and an intensifier — beaucoup crawfish, beaucoup problems, beaucoup money. One of those NOLA loanwords that outs you instantly as either from there or not.
"She got beaucoup cousins down in Houma — whole town's basically family."
Origin
Louisiana French, picked up by GIs in WWI/WWII and dragged back into wider American slang as 'boocoo' / 'boku'.
Frequently asked questions
What does beaucoup mean?
Beaucoup means a whole lot — it's pronounced "bookoo" down in New Orleans.
How do you use beaucoup in a sentence?
"There were beaucoup people at the parade."
Where does beaucoup come from?
It comes from the French word for "a lot," reflecting Louisiana's French heritage, and is pronounced "bookoo" in NOLA.
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