Mark Twain introduced the New Orleans term lagniappe to the rest of the world in his book Life on the Mississippi, originally published in 1883. Reprints are still available, this one is published by Penguin Books.

I have a newspaper from 1945. I was looking at the movie page, and there was one listed as a drive-in on Canal Boulevard near the lakefront. Have you ever heard of that one?

Guy Lartique

Dear Guy,

The one you are referring to was New Orleans' first drive-in theater. Located on Canal Boulevard just north of Robert E. Lee Boulevard, it opened on May 28, 1940, and was named Drive-In Theater. Five hundred cars parked in a large semicircle in rows that were 36 feet apart. There were 250 loudspeakers so we didn't miss a word the actors said in the movie. At the grand opening, Barbara Stanwyck and William Holden starred in Golden Boy. We paid 26 cents to get in, but children paid only a dime. A little over five years later, the theater closed.

Hey Blake,

Regarding the origin of the term lagniappe, I read that years ago people brought their own sacks back and forth to stores to carry their purchases. Those sacks had a "nap" woven into them to cover the contents. Often, some of the product being bought would become irretrievably imbedded in the weave of the nap. When this happened, the merchant would toss in an extra handful to make up for what was caught in the "nap" of the sack, hence, the term lagniappe. It may be lore, but it does make for interesting conversation.

Deborah Long

Dear Deborah,

You're right. It does make for good conversation, and I must admit that your version is unique. The truth, however, is very different.

The simple definition of lagniappe is a little gift, usually presented by a merchant to a customer who has made a purchase. A good example is getting a 13th beignet when you only pay for 12. More broadly, it means something freely given or obtained as a bonus.

The word is derived from the American-Spanish phrase la ñapa ('la" meaning 'the," and 'ñapa" a variant of yapa meaning 'something that is added"). The term has been traced back to the Quechua word yapay, which means 'to increase or to add."

The Spanish conquered the Inca empire, and afterward certain Quechua words came into the language. These words then came to America with the Spanish when they governed Louisiana.

Mark Twain wrote about the word lagniappe in a chapter on New Orleans in his book, Life on the Mississippi (1883).

"We picked up one excellent word — a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — 'lagniappe,'" he wrote. "They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. 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. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop — or even the mayor or the 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 licorice-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.

"When you are invited to drink, and this does occur now and then in New Orleans — and you say, 'What, again? — no, I've had enough,' the other party says, 'But just this one time more — this is for lagniappe.' When the beau perceives that he is stacking his compliments a trifle too high, and sees by the young lady's countenance that the edifice would have been better with the top compliment left off, he puts his 'I beg pardon — no harm intended,' into the briefer form of 'Oh, that's for lagniappe.'