“We picked up one excellent word – a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word – ‘Lagniappe.’ They pronounce it lanny-yap. […] When a child or a servant buys something in a shop – or even the mayor or governor, for aught I know – he finishes the operation by saying, – ‘Give me something for lagniappe.’ The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of liquorice-root; […]”: Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1883)
I recently sent an incidental small gift to a friend in New Orleans. He replied with thanks for the "lagniappe," so of course I had to look that up. Here are the essentials, courtesy of Wiktionary:
Definition: (chiefly Louisiana, Mississippi, Trinidad and Tobago) An extra or unexpected gift or benefit, such as that given to customers when they purchase something.Synonyms: (chiefly Southern US) brotus, (South Africa) pasella, (Ireland) tillyEtymology: From Cajun French lagniappe, from Spanish la ñapa, a variant of yapa (“small gift or additional quantity given to a valued customer”), from Quechua yapa (“addition, increase, supplement; lagniappe”), yapay (“to add, to increase”).
I thought that might be my first English word of Quechua origin, but a quick check reveals there are many more, including ayahuasca, cocaine, guano, jerk/jerky, pampas, pique, poncho, puma, quinine, quinoa, vicuna, and the place names Andes, Chile, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and Peru.
While my family (originally from Tennessee--the Mother State of Texas) never used the word, I learned it probably on some vocabulary study in school. I took it to mean "a little something extra to show we appreciate the business," etc. But to ASK for it strikes me as a bit contrary to the spirit of things.
ReplyDeleteI had to look up your phrase, and AI gave me this -
Delete"Tennessee has a strong connection to the Alamo, as at least 30 men who died there were from Tennessee, including the famous frontiersman David Crockett. This large contingent from one state is a significant reason why some consider Tennessee the "Mother State of Texas," due to its role in the Texas Revolution" (also Sam Houston was from Tennessee).
When you consider the origin of all the defenders of the Alamo--that is, if we know their origin--Tennessee had more people there than 2nd and 3rd place combined. And, yes, Sam Houston is the other Tennessean in the mix. But it's not just that they were from Tennessee: They were from EAST Tennessee.
DeleteIn fact, Houston lived on Jolly Island at the confluence of the Hiwassee River and the Tennessee River--about five miles from the settlement of Birchwood, TN, where my dad and his family came from.
The three stars on Tennessee's state flag is based on the three grand divisions of Tennessee: East, Middle, and West Tennessee. The southeast corner of Tennessee (the lower left quadrant of the areas created by the Hiwassee/Tennessee River confluence) is the last part of Tennessee that the Cherokee nation owned.
I don't know, but I doubt many states have such "section pride" as does Tennessee. East Tennessee is not only culturally different in many ways, but is the part with mountains (Appalachians/Cumberlands/Smokies), etc. We love all our people, of course, but, well, east Tennessee is a matter of pride to many of us. I've been in Florida since 1968--since I was six--and tell folks I'm a native of two states: I was born in Tennessee, but born-again in Florida--my dad was an evangelist.
I first encountered this word in a small cookbook by Paul Prudhomme, 35 years ago. Got me started in cooking, as a gift from my mother. I looked up the word and thought the recipe he called lagniappe was something extra for a meal, a cultural thing maybe. NOW I realize that the recipe was a gift to me as a recipient of his cookbook. I just ordered $70 worth of his spices (the big cans!), and the order form offered me a free cookbook (much fancier cooking than that original), which I declined, as I already have a copy. He and my mother gifted me with a lifetime of cooking, a bit more than lagniappe!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Dave. I see there are 3 cookbooks by him in our library. Thanks.
DeleteI learned this word in the early 90s when a grad student from New Orleans named her computer that, and I was like ??!?!?? That and learning "copasetic" both amazed me in college.
ReplyDeleteIs this like the deli counter guy giving you a slice of what it is you are getting to much on while he slice your order?
ReplyDeleteMade me wonder where yapping came from.
ReplyDeleteAI says, "has two main origins: one is imitative, starting in the 1600s to describe the sound of a small dog barking, and the other is a modern slang term for talking at length, which became popular through Gen Z on social media. The original meaning was literal, while the modern usage has evolved to describe a long, often trivial or pointless conversation, and can also have a more positive, unstructured connotation."
I feel it was popular before social media, but the AI gods have spoken.
I was pretty sure it is "lan yap."
ReplyDeleteNo source I can find has "lanny yap."
Am I not familiar with the pronunciation system used?
Maybe. Are you familiar with Louisiana pronunciations in the 1880s?
DeleteI have a son-in-law who is Quechua (it's one of his four languages). He has often been confronted with the racial categories on many forms to fill out, and the closest that would apply to him was "Native American," which was weird because he wasn't yet an American citizen (but he is now).
ReplyDelete