Krewe of Rex Demands 'Tit Rex Change Name (Or Get Sued)

The 'Tit Rex Parade, which bills itself as "New Orleans' only micro krewe" featuring tiny, toy-sized floats and miniature throws, has been told to remove "Rex" from their name. By the other Rex, the big one, most famous for crowning the King of Carnival each year (and for being the parade after Zulu).

'Tit Rex chose their name before their first parade in 2009 as an elaborate pun. 'Tit means little in traditional Louisiana jargon?coming, bien sure from petit. When combined with the Latin word for King, it sounds either like "Little King of Carnival" or "extinct, famously small-armed predator." The humor seems to be lost on the Krewe of Rex's lawyers.

Indeed, in a pair of letters this year, Big Rex told Little Rex that if the latter does not stop using the name, they'll be dragged to court, prompting the observation that, unlike Big Rex, 'Tit Rex doesn't even have a lawyer. For more differences between the two, here's the Times-Pic:

Established in 1872, the Rex organization presents an annual St. Charles Avenue parade on Mardi Gras morning that to many represents the climax of Carnival. 'Tit Rex has staged three small-scale parades that began on Poland Avenue and snakes through Bywater neighborhood backstreets.

So one is a huge, incredibly famous parade that's gone on for almost 120 years, while the other is a group of way-downtown folks having Carnival fun since 2009. Sounds like 'Tit Rex will be changing its name.

And as an aside, given that the 'Tit Rex Parade starts at Bacchanal, the embattled Bywater wine shop and eatery, this sounds like a really bad month to try to do anything under-the-radar in that corner of the Bywater.

· Rex Demands that Krewe of 'Tit Rex Change its Name [TP]
· All Parade Season Coverage on Eater New Orleans [-ENOLA-]

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Bacchanal Wine Bar

600 Poland Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117 (504) 948 9111

Bacchanal Wine

600 Poland Ave., New Orleans, LA