lagniappe

Example Sentences

• "Lefe had been successful, and was supposed to have amassed quite a "pile," which he was very loth indeed to part with; and when he lost, if the money were not absolutely staked, would usually put off the winner with some old horse that he had fixed up for sale, or a dubious note that he had received as "lanyappe," (Anglice, boot money.)"
• "Lanyap. Something over and above. Louisiana."
• "We have a custom here among children (and one often sought to be made availing by some of larger growth), that when anything is purchased, a Lagnappe (something thrown in), is expected, and demanded as a right. And since "Jesus died and paid it all, / All the debt we owe." […] may not He claim for His Lagnappe, on the resurrection morn, these living gems [children], who wait "to be clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven?""
• "We picked up one excellent word – a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word – "Lagniappe." They pronounce it lanny-yap. […] It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. […] When a child or a servant buys something in a shop – or even the mayor or governor, for aught I know – he finishes the operation by saying, – 'Give me something for lagniappe.' The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of liquorice-root; gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor – I don't know what he gives the governor; support, likely."
• "[T]he most peculiar is the institution known as Lagniappe (pronounced Lan-yap). Lagniappe is something given to the purchaser in a retail store, a bribe to secure his future patronage. It is a custom extending back to time immemorial, […]"
• "They have a stranger thing than the lottery in New Orleans, and that is the word "lagniappe." "Take that for a lagniappe" (pronounced lan-yap), says a storekeeper as he folds a pretty calendar into the bundle of stationery you have purchased."