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There was a nice discussion of lagniappe five years ago on the show, but I have questions.
I've only ever run across the written word in written form, and then only in pieces by southern writers. And I mean deep south. I've lived in Lancaster, PA, which is tobacco country just 20 miles from the Mason-Dixon line and confederacy state Maryland, and I've lived in Cincinnati, more tobacco country, where I was six miles from slave state Kentucky, but never ran across the term iin either areas. The term boot is used everywhere, I think, but usually means something of significant worth, a bottle of champagne, not the bar owner setting you up with a chaser of draft.
What is the geographic distribution of this word? Is it pretty much a NOLA thing or is it something one might run across in a story on WXIA in Atlanta or in the Chapel Hill NANDO?
The definitions I've run across say it's a boot given by a vendor in the name of good measure, but the examples include advertising novelties like calendars and pens given out whether a sale is made or not. My doctor always has a cup of advertising pens, provided by various detailers, by the window, obviously inviting their way into client pockets, but I know people who start magazine articles in the waiting room, continue reading while waiting in an examination room, and continue reading at home. I'm not talking about the stack of Diabetes Self-Management. but copies of Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, or Reader's Digest, which probably aren't in the same category as the dog biscuits the lady at the bank gives to pet owners using the drive-through.
When I had my first newspaper, back in the 1970s, I found that certain customers would round down an invoice to whole dollars, and mail a check for $39 instead of $38.40. Is that 40c or that year-old Reader's Digest a lagniappe, or chiseling? I can't really call it petty larceny, since there is no attempt to conceal the action, just an expectation that there won't be any protest. Is cuckoldry a lagniappe?
Is lagniappe considered slang? What exactly is the difference between slang and legitimate words, anyhow? Is there a test, along the lines of "an army, a navy, and a flag"?
(Please excuse my typos; my eyes are working very poorly tonight.)
My father, who spent a lot of time in South America in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, used the term to mean a small bribe, that is less than a bribe but more than a tip, to make things happen quickly or at all. Things like getting a table at a crowded restaurant, or speeding up an official procedure (visas? tickets? police checks?).
I was unfamiliar with boot used for a lagniappe. While lagniappe clearly has Louisiana roots, as a northerner, I am quite familiar with this useful word and I employ it when the circumstances warrant no matter where I find myself.
The lagniappe at root instantiates the concept of the baker's dozen. To make sure the customer feels they got good value, or to make up for the possibility of a slightly puny or overdone bun, the baker would throw in an extra. I feel it fits most comfortably, but not exclusively, in the area of food products. In addition to the extras thrown in at the deli or bakery, in a restaurant, an unordered amuse-bouche or after-dinner truffle is a lagniappe.
Lagniappe has been extended to mean any extra that might be thrown in for a customer as a gesture of good will or good measure. I might use the term for non-food promotional products that are freely supplied for customers to take. I would include your examples of dog biscuits for sure. Also the promotional pens as lagniappes in an extended sense. Or calendars at that time of year.
For me, a lagniappe must be freely given. I would not use it for anything swiped or a bribe of any sort. I would exclude taken or asked-for waiting-room magazines, since in neither case are they intentionally or freely given, even if the patron's presumptuousness is ignored. Lagniappe is a happy word, evoking joy and good nature. If the activity does not embody these qualities, don't use lagniappe to describe them.
None of the dictionaries I consulted lists lagniappe as slang. I'll let the dictionaries define how they see slang, and I'll let you argue with them about how they apply this understanding of slang to their dictionary entries. However, I would say that lagniappe is not informal when I use it. I would freely employ it in formal writing.
Oxford: A type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. slang
Am Her: A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect. slang
Mer Web: : words that are not considered part of the standard vocabulary of a language and that are used very informally in speech especially by a particular group of people slang
Glenn said
I was unfamiliar with boot used for a lagniappe. While lagniappe clearly has Louisiana roots, as a northerner, I am quite familiar with this useful word and I employ it when the circumstances warrant no matter where I find myself.
American Heritage has boot[2] for that usage. It says boot is obsolete or archaic, but I can tell you, in any trade where prices are negotiated rather than set, boot is pretty common. Sometimes, it's even used for supposedly fixed-price sales, such as items sold on commission in department stores. A furniture store mat stock throw pillows used as a sweetener for sales of sofas, etc. A tire salesman may toss in mounting, new vales, and spin balancing, when you buy a more expensive tire. When buying a new car, the boot may be rustproofing the underbody, or for a used car, the boot may be a new set of tires. The word booty comes from boot[2].
Glenn said
To make sure the customer feels they got good value, or to make up for the possibility of a slightly puny or overdone bun, the baker would throw in an extra.
The Phrase Finder says the practice predates the Assize of Bread and Ale. If there was a worry about 12 being underweight, then they ought to be doing something to avoid shortweight when you buy fewer.
This week, Kroger was selling half-gallons of milk for $1.69 each, 10 for $10. A lot of people were buying gallons, apparently because they didn't want to make room for 10 halves the fridge, or they doubted their ability to use so much milk before the quality flags. I think the idea of the baker's dozen is that if Mrs. Johnson buys a half-dozen sweet rolls, they will eat all 13, but if the buy 6, they don't go back for more.
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