LAGNIAPPE

There is an eclectic mix of artworks here, but it doesn’t seem quite right to label this section “MISCELLANEOUS” or “HODGEPODGE.” Though it’s not a word used much around here, “LAGNIAPPE” seems especially fitting.

If it’s not dependably part of your vocabulary, learn its meaning from Mark Twain, as explained in his “Life on the Mississippi,” published in 1883:

“We picked up one excellent word--a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word--'lagniappe.' 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 [newspaper], 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. ... If the waiter in the restaurant stumbles and spills a gill of coffee down the back of your neck, he says 'For lagniappe, sir,' and gets you another cup without extra charge.”

In the unlikely event that this excellent word suddenly gains currency in the Monadnock region, please credit that to this art show.