Lagniappe
Verbal Lore: folk Speech, slang — associated material, food lore
English/ French/ Spanish/ Quechua
United States of America/ France
Context: A little something extra, or a small plate sent out by chefs at New orleans Fine dininf restaurants
Informant: Libby Flint, age 59, New Orleans resident of 36 years, originally from Upstate New York and Vermont. Collected May 22, 2016 and recorded on iphone
Transcript:
“ In New Orleans, If you give somebody something a little bit extra or or something that comes free, its termed ‘Lagniappe.’ Lagniappe means a Little something extra.”
Informant: Caitlin Flint, age 21, Metairie, LA, worked as a server in the French Quarter, New Orleans collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on an iphone.
Transcript:
“ The second word is the phrase ‘lagniappe.’ Lagniappe come from a French word. I’m actually not sure what it actually means in French, but growing up , my mother always described it to me as meaning ‘a little something extra,’ so lagniappe was always used to describe if there was a small little gift that someone got and tossed into the pile at Christmas or for birthday, or when they were visiting from far and they decided to bring a gift, the would call it ‘ just a little lagniappe for you. ’ it is also a phrase that is used almost exclusively in the New Orleans restaurant dining industry, as I said, I worked as a server, and in a lot of the New Orleans Restaurants, there is a practice of sending out what are called lagniappes to values customers/ patrons, they were small little plates that were made by the chefs that were just a taste, just a small little, little something extra. For the patron who came in, in a lot of cases these were people who knew the owners, who were influential business folk. In general it just kind of helped reinforces this idea that, this little something extra was for those who were family, I guess it kind of fits in with how my family always looked at it as a little nice something. That’s lagniappe.”
Informant: Brian Flint, age 23, Metairie, LA, collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on an iphone.
Transcript:
“The first one I wanted to talk about was ‘Lagniappe’– That’s L-A-G-N-I-A-P-P-E . This word is pretty well used in the New Orleans area, it actually has origins in Quechua from Spanish Creoles that immigrated to the New Orleans , and still today in some Indian markets in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia, you can hear people say, like ‘lagniappa’ which means ‘ give me something a little bit extra. ’ The term means you know, ‘a little something extra on top to sweeten the deal’ you know ‘good will’ or something like that thirteenth donut in a baker’s dozen.”
Collectors Commentary:
Informant info: (Left to Right) Sadhana Puri, age 20, Jessica Link, age 20, Alex Ledoux, age 21 all from New Orleans, LA
Transcript:
“Jessica: lagniappe.
Alex: lagniappe
Sadhana: lagniappe
Alex: It just means like extra
Jessica: a little something extra
Sadhana: a little extra
Alex: like bonus or something
Sadhana: I remember one time I was taking a test and, um, my professor actually Jessica and I were in the same group my teacher Dr. Hightower.
Jessica: Dr. Hightower, yes, our English teacher.
Sadhana: Getting confused. Anyway, she was like- I was asking her if I could do this bonus question because I forgot to do it during the test. She was like “I can’t give you a little lagniappe.” That’s what she called the bonus question during the test.
Jessica: That’s cute.
Sadhana: That was funny.
Jessica: She was very much like, like when someone uses it I feel it’s very much like, like it’s uh, like it’s I don’t know, it’s not a word I use super normally. It’s not like brake tag, where it’s a fun- . When I say it, it’s like I know this is a special word. But it’s not like totally weird.
Alex: It’s like you know what it is, but your don’t use it.
Sadhana: But you don’t use it like frequently.
Alex: you would say like bonus question.
Jessica: Like if I said a little Lagniappe. I would only say that like once a week or a month.
Sadhana: And then at restaurants
Alex: I’ve actually never said that.
Jessica: If someone said that I would know what it means. Also our newspaper, well our old newspaper, the times Louisiana, used to have a Lagniappe section
Sadhana: That’s true
Jessica: That was like a cool section
Sadhana: Also at restaurants when they have like condiments and extra things you can put on and stuff it’s called “lagniappe,” gonna add something to your po’boy which is another term.”
Key words: Lagniappe, New Orleans, a little something extra, restaurants, small plates