They say "ax" (or, perhaps, "aks") for "ask" in NOLA? I remember reading something about the "aks" pronunciation for "ask" years ago, in the midst of the Ebonics controversy. Remember that?
Yes. Well, they use a lot of Ebonics in NOLA.
Well, I guess a media is sort of "neutral ground," between two or more lanes of traffic.
There's a more literal meaning in this case, dating back from when the city was half English and half Spanish, and Canal Street, with its particularly wide median, ran between them.
And didn't Archie Bunker say "earl" for "oil"? Or was it just "terlit" for "toilet"?
Yeah, he did say those things. (and "Goils were goils and men were men ...") New Orleans and certain parts of New York share an eerily similar accent, I guess because of similar immigration patterns.