• This is a “Word of the Day" thread, to reply to this thread please come up with a sentence with the given word. More details.

Word of the Day : Lagniappe

I've read this word but only loosely derived it's meaning via context. Thanks for the pronunciation bonus. You don't want to know how I butchered it in my brain...

When retailing school uniforms I'd often slip a belt, hairbow or other lagniappe into the shopping bag as a special thanks to patient, polite children - or for children who were themselves polite but had unpleasant parents.
(True story.)
 
RB-TX said:
What other languages besides French are allowed for 'Word of thee day'?
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Lagniappe is an English word, to quote Wikipedia:

The word entered English from the Louisiana French adapting a Quechua word brought in to New Orleans by the Spanish Creoles.

A word that started out as Native South American, then into Spanish, then Louisiana French, and now English. A history not all that different from many of our English words.

For example the word language, started as Latin (lingua) then French, and entered English via the Normans... Or the word English, derived from the Germanic word Angle.
 
A question, @Alligatorob, having spent some time in Louisiana, when you first saw the word lagniappe were you able to pronounce it because of familiarity with language roots from that area of the country?

Having spent some 50 years in the Los Angeles area where many words and names have Spanish roots, I'm able to correctly pronounce even unfamiliar words with meanings I don't yet understand.
 
StarSong said:
A question, @Alligatorob, having spent some time in Louisiana, when you first saw the word lagniappe were you able to pronounce it because of familiarity with language roots from that area of the country?
Click to expand...
I am originally from Louisiana and heard the word lagniappe long before I knew how to spell or read it. My mother in particular used it a lot.

There is a magazine with the name Lagniappe, English language of course. And it was (maybe still is) what the New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune called its Sunday section. Picayune is another interesting word, when the New Orleans newspaper was first published in ~1830 it sold for one picayune, a coin in use in Louisiana and Florida worth 1/16th of a dollar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picayune
 
I've heard picayune my whole life, mostly as a synonym for petty or focused on trivial matters. "Oh for heaven's sake, don't be so picayune." Didn't know the origins or that it was a small value coin.

The things I learn on SF!
 
Probably wouldn't hurt to begin teaching Spanish in 4th. grade so that in the future when the Spanish language becomes the primary language in America non Latinos will know what this means.


"para ingles, marque numero uno"

Star probably already know since L A suburbs is close to where there is a large Latino population.
 
A good friend of mine named her female dog "Lanyap", or so I thought! I never did ask her where she found the name. The dog was a bit timid, very feminine for a dog.
My friend and her hubby have traveled all over the world with CDC and WHO, so I thought it came from Europe.
Louisiana. Who knew.
Me. Now.
 

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