Meaning
In New Orleans, a go-cup is the disposable cup used when a drink is transferred or served to take outside, a term strongly associated with the city’s street, bar, parade, and hospitality culture.
How it is used
New Orleans & Company defines a go-cup as a plastic cup used to carry a beverage in public and includes the term in both its city glossary and Mardi Gras vocabulary. Its Bourbon Street history page also identifies the go cup as a distinctive part of the street’s modern drinking culture.
Examples
- “Ask for a go-cup before you leave the bar.”
- “The parade crowd carried drinks in go-cups.”
Pronunciation
/ˈɡoʊ kʌp/ · GOH-cup
Tone and register
Casual and practical. The word describes the takeaway container and the local social practice around it rather than a particular cocktail.
Visitor guidance
Treat go-cup as vocabulary, not as blanket legal permission. Rules for alcohol, containers, ages, events, vehicles, and specific locations can change or differ, so current official guidance should be checked when legality matters.
Cultural context
The term is useful because it links ordinary hospitality language with New Orleans street life and parade culture. It appears in official visitor materials as something residents and businesses expect people to understand, not merely as an invented tourism slogan.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.