New Orleans slang

pass a good time

Enjoy oneself or have a good time.

Meaning and local context

In New Orleans, “pass a good time” means Enjoy oneself or have a good time. A Louisiana regional construction influenced by French.

Example in context

A local example is “We passed a good time at the festival.” In plain English, that means “We had a good time at the festival.”

We passed a good time at the festival.

We had a good time at the festival.

How to interpret it

The surrounding sentence is important when interpreting “pass a good time”. Use the regional sense above when the situation matches the example instead of relying on the word or phrase in isolation.

Tone and caution

It may sound nonstandard outside Louisiana but is meaningful regional English. Because this is informal regional language, tone and situation should guide whether you use “pass a good time” yourself or simply recognise it when someone else uses it.

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