Lagniappe

Lag-knee-app?

An app for … lagging knees?

Photo by Tamar Assaf via Wikimedia Commons

Um, no, somehow I doubt that’s it.

Here—you take a look at the word I’m sputtering and tell me if you can pronounce it:

Lagniappe.

This is what the dictionary tells me:

lan-YAP – or – LAN-yap

Easier said than read!

With that cleared up, all I can think is, “Stop your lan-yapping … lagniapping?”

Sigh … wrong again.

If you’re a Texas or Louisiana belle, you might have used this word in conversation, and I do wish you were here to save me from sounding so silly!

The “Lone Star Belle,” ca. 1908, Cowgirl Postcard, via Wikimedia Commons

But, since I’m on my own up here in Idaho, I’ll give it my best. Something like …

When Debbie Sue was at the farmers’ market selling her delicious homemade doughnuts, the early-morning customers would flock to her stand to buy a dozen because everyone knew that Debbie Sue loved a lagniappe— her dozen always meant a classic baker’s 13.

Photo by Kronn via Wikimedia Commons

Get it?

Debbie Sue’s lagniappe was an extra doughnut, but it could be just about any small gift given with a purchase to a customer, by way of a compliment or for good measure.

“The word entered English from the Louisiana French adapting a Quechua word brought in to New Orleans by the Spanish Creoles,” explains Wikipedia. “It derived from the South American Spanish phrase la yapa (referring to a free extra item, usually a very cheap one). In Andean markets, it is still customary to ask for a yapa (“a little extra”) when making a purchase. Although this is an old custom, it is still widely practiced today in Louisiana. Street vendors, especially vegetable vendors, are expected to throw in a few green chilies or a small bunch of cilantro with a purchase.”

Photo by Tammy Farrugia via Wikimedia Commons

Have you received a lagniappe lately?