lagniappe

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“
It's a lagniappe, and I'm capable of connecting with people when the opportunity arises.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi A small gift presented by a storeowner to a customer with the customer's purchase.
  2. noun Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot2. See Regional Note at beignet.
  3. Regional Note
    Lagniappe derives from New World Spanish la ñapa, "the gift,” and ultimately from Quechua yapay, "to give more.” The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. It is still 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.”

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Examples (50)

  • Giving direct access to music on the phone would be the obvious benefit, but it would allow tidier integration of phone functions into the car, and add navigation as a lagniappe.
  • After visiting the Augusta Museum of History recently, I wrote that finding the admission to cost only $1 was a lagniappe. —  AugustaChronicle.com: Top News and Blogs
  • As lagniappe, over 28\% of those surveyed agreed that —  The Car Connection
  • It is really very little science to this type of cuisine that includes much more than mere lagniappe in the pantry or the spice cabinet. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • BTW - some lagniappe here .. assuming NOLA in your tag is the crescent city, will you be at Jazzfest in a few months? —  The Soxaholix
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Louisiana French, from American Spanish la ñapa, the gift : la, the (from Latin illa, feminine of ille, that, the; see al-1 in Indo-European roots) + ñapa (variant of yapa, gift, from Quechua, from yapay, to give more).
 

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