Grammar Punk Blog

Lagniappe

Main Entry: la·gniappe

Pronunciation: \ˈlan-ˌyap

Function: noun

Etymology: American French, from American Spanish la ñapa the lagniappe, from      la + ñapa, yapa, from Quechua yapa something added

Date: 1844

lagniappe: a small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase; broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure

Another lovely hallmark of the English language is the liberal sprinkling of other languages. With many of these everyday words we barely notice that their origin did not originate with our forefathers. How often do you use words like déjà vu, rendezvous, or bourgeois and hardly give it a thought? We even (usually) pronounce them correctly (with the occasional ren-dezz-vuz) just for added color.

Today’s word is another I will admit to not having used before myself. It’s a lovely little word with a lovely meaning. We at Grammar Punk often include our own little lagniappe’s in with our shipments. As far as I’m concerned, lagniappe’s should be part of our lives as often as possible.

Try out today’s word in a sentence. Then try out the concept.

Grammar Punk Sentence: L E 5 Lagniappe

Beaming with pleasure, DeeDee held up the wee leprechaun outfit she’d received as a lovely little lagniappe when she’d ordered a year’s worth of iguana food; Junior was going to love it.

Share your sentence with us. Make sure it contains 5 words with the letters L and E and the word lagniappe or one of its derivatives.