LAGNIAPPE

LAGNIAPPE  (Day of our Return +1)
What is "lagniappe"? 
The word comes from American French, from American Spanish la napa, the lagniappe, from la + napa, yapa, from Quechua yapa = something added.

The Free Dictionary tells us: 

Word History:  "We picked up an excellent word---a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice, limber expressive, handy word---'lagniappe'...It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a 'baker's dozen.'  It is something thrown in gratis, for good measure."

In this passage from his memoir Life on the Mississippi (1883), Mark Twain calls his readers' attention to an American regionalism that he thinks deserves to be better known, lagniappe.  The story of lagniappe begins in South American: it ultimately comes from the word yapay, "to give more" in Quechua, the language of the rulers of the Inca Empire.  The Quechua word was borrowed into Spanish as a noun spelled either llapa or ñapa, meaning "bonus, a little something extra added as a gift," and the word then spread throughout the Spanish of the Western Hemisphere.  Eventually, the Spanish phrase la ñapa, meaning "the gift," entered the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans, where the whole phrase came to be thought of as a single word and acquired the French spelling lagniappe.  The word was then borrowed into the English of the region.  Lagniappe continues to be used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase.  By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

First known use: 1844

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Yes, we're back and what a trip we had!
Take a look at what we saw in New Orleans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15w2xyU61JY

It was like this back in the 1920s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osr7WedqNLY

Like this in the 1930s : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiheunLTgOs

And in 1940:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-0iKYQBUB8

Let's jump to May 2015.  We'll have more lagniappe for everyone. The students who took the trip will share a few of their photos with you. But they need a little time to get over the jetlag, empty their suitcases, do the laundry, and sort their photos, but soon you can come back to the blog from time to time to see their contributions to this blog.  

Jane
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-limber = agile
-handy = pratique, utile
-roll = un petit pain servi avec le repas
-thrown in = rajouté