Acadiana in the context of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

Southeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the U.S. state of Texas, bordering Southwest Louisiana and its greater Acadiana region to the east. Being a part of East Texas, the region is geographically centered on the Greater Houston and Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical areas with a combined population of 7,662,325 according to the 2020 U.S. census.

The Cajuns (/ˈkeɪdʒənz/; French: les Cadjins [le kadʒɛ̃] or les Cadiens [le kadjɛ̃]), also known as Louisiana Acadians (French: les Acadiens), are an American ethnic group mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and the surrounding Gulf Coast states.

While Cajuns are usually described as the descendants of the Acadian exiles who went to Louisiana over the course of Le Grand Dérangement, Louisianians frequently use Cajun as a broad cultural term (particularly when referencing Acadiana) without necessitating race or descent from the deported Acadians. Although the terms Cajun and Creole today are often portrayed as separate identities, Louisianians of Acadian descent have historically been known as, and are, a subset of Creoles (synonymous for "Louisianais", which is a demonym for French Louisianians). Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's population and have had an enormous impact on the state's culture.

Lafayette (/ˌlæfiˈjɛt, ˌlɑːf-/ LA(H)-fee-YET, French: [lafajɛt]) is the most populous city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth-most populous city with a 2020 census population of 121,374; the consolidated city-parish's population was 241,753 in 2020. The Lafayette metropolitan area was Louisiana's third largest metropolitan statistical area with a population of 478,384 at the 2020 census. The Acadiana region containing Lafayette is the largest population and economic corridor between Houston, Texas and New Orleans.

Originally established as Vermilionville in the 1820s and incorporated in 1836, Lafayette developed as an agricultural community until the introduction of retail and entertainment centers, and the discovery of oil in the area in the 1940s. Since the discovery of oil, the city and parish have had the highest number of workers in the oil and natural gas industry in Louisiana as of 2018. With the issuance of a bond ordinance for a series of roads connecting nearby settlements, the establishment of the University of Louisiana System's Lafayette campus, and the continued diversification of its economy, Lafayette and its metropolitan area have experienced population growth since the 1840 census and was promptly nicknamed "The Hub City." The city and parish of Lafayette are also known as the "Heart of Acadiana."

Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) is a five-parish area intersecting the Acadiana and Central Louisiana regions in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is composed of the following parishes (counties): Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis. As of 2020, the combined population of the five parish area was 313,951.

Southwest Louisiana has one metropolitan area: Lake Charles. The southwestern portion of Louisiana is also geographically and culturally attached to Southeast Texas.

Vermilion Parish (French: Paroisse de Vermillion) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern Acadiana. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 57,359.

In the past several decades, much of the southern portion of the parish has been swept away by water erosion, especially after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005.

The Christkind (German for 'Christ-child'; pronounced [ˈkʁɪstˌkɪnt] ), also called Christkindl, is the traditional Christmas gift-bringer in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Southern Germany and Western Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the eastern part of Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, parts of northeastern France, Upper Silesia in Poland, parts of Latin America, in certain areas of southern Brazil, and in the Acadiana region of Louisiana.

Christkind is called in Portuguese Menino Jesus ("Boy Jesus"), in Hungarian Jézuska ("Little Jesus"), in Slovak Ježiško ("Little Jesus"), in Czech Ježíšek ("Little Jesus"), in Latin America Niño Dios ("Child God") or Niño Jesús ("Child Jesus") and in Croatian Isusek ("Little Jesus"), in Silesian Dziyciōntko Jezus (Baby Jesus), in Cieszyn Silesian Aniołek ("Little Angel"), in Polish Dzieciątko ("Little baby"). In some parts of Italy, the analogous figure of the Christkind is known as Gesù Bambino ("Child Jesus").

New Orleans English is American English native to the city of New Orleans and its metropolitan area. Native English speakers of the region actually speak a number of varieties, including the variety most recently brought in and spreading since the 20th century among white communities of the Southern United States in general (Southern U.S. English); the variety primarily spoken by black residents (African-American Vernacular English); the variety spoken by Cajuns in southern Louisiana (Cajun English); the variety traditionally spoken by affluent white residents of the city's Uptown and Garden District; and the variety traditionally spoken by lower middle- and working-class white residents of Eastern New Orleans, particularly the Ninth Ward (sometimes known, since at least the 1980s, as Yat). However, only the last two varieties are unique to New Orleans and are typically those referred to in the academic research as "New Orleans English". These two varieties specific to New Orleans likely developed around the turn of the nineteenth century and most noticeably combine speech features commonly associated with both New York City English and, to a lesser extent, Southern U.S. English. The noticeably New York-like characteristics include the NYC-like short-a split (so that mad and map, for example, do not have the same vowel), non-rhoticity, th-stopping (so that, for example, "those" may sound like "doze"), and the recently disappearing coil–curl merger. Noticeably Southern characteristics include the fronting of /oʊ/ and possible monophthongization of /aɪ/ (just these features, plus non-rhoticity, often characterize the Uptown accent).

Often, the term "Yat" refers particularly to the New Orleans accents that are "strongest" or most especially reminiscent of a working-class New York City accent, though others use the term as a regional marker, to define the speech heard in certain parts of the city and its inner suburbs. Used in these narrower senses, Yat is simply one of many sub-dialects of New Orleans. The word comes from the common use of the local greeting, "Where y'at?" or "Where are you at (i.e. in life)?", which is a way of asking, "How are you?"