Lagniappe is about as Cajun french as dos gris (Lesser Scaup) in the camp gumbo pot right? Well sure it is... in the sense that Cajun french borrowed from many languages in the gumbo of cultures found in south Louisiana. What you may not know is that lagniappe was first picked up by the Spaniards in the high Andes of South America where the Quechua phrase to give or increase a little for good measure was
a yapa. If you were negotiating in a market for a kilogram of papas in Peru, you might overhear the vendor say a yapa as they add a little more after the potatoes were weighed.
Here's the wikipedia entry for
lagniappe. So the phrase made it to Louisiana with the Spaniards and has persisted in Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas.
Lagniappe is one of my favorite words and I'm on a mission to spread its use. A little something extra for good measure is a philosophy we could all use a little more of no?
