Street
berl
What does berl mean?
To boil. Used about water, crawfish, shrimp, crabs — anything getting dropped in a pot with cayenne and corn. The noun works too: a crawfish berl is a whole afternoon, not just a meal.
"We berlin' fifty pounds a' mudbugs Saturday — come thru."
Origin
Classic Yat vowel flip — the 'oi' in boil collapses to 'er', same way 'oil' becomes 'erl'. Lives on at crawfish boils every spring.
Frequently asked questions
What does berl mean?
Berl means to boil — it's the Yat (New Orleans) pronunciation, as in "crawfish berl."
How do you use berl in a sentence?
"We're gonna berl some crawfish this weekend."
Where does berl come from?
It's the Yat dialect pronunciation of "boil," characteristic of New Orleans speech.
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