;Posted on 11/17/2014 5:43:14 AM PST by xsmommy
Word For The Day, Monday, 11/17/14
;In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
lagniappe
1. Chiefly Southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas . a small gift given with a purchase to a customer, by way of compliment or for good measure; bonus. 2. a gratuity or tip. 3. an unexpected or indirect benefit.
Etymology: Quotes: We picked up one excellent word—a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word—' lagniappe .' -- Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi , 1883 " Lagniappe !" I screamed the word. The old Creole word they used in New Orleans when they want a little extra; a bonus of croissants, a few additional carrots dumped into the shopping bag, a baker's dozen, a larger portion of clams or crabs or shrimp. -- Harlan Ellison, "On the Downhill Side," Deathbird Stories , 1975 Origin: Lagniappe , also spelled lagnappe , is an Americanism that entered English in the mid-19th century. It is thought to be a variant of the Spanish term la napa , which can be traced to the Quecha word yapa
Unfortunately, working on a holiday is often required and NOT voluntary.
Yeah—that, too—LOL!
but those are the breaks. if you go into a field where you are providing care, such as nursing, SOMEONE has to staff the hospital, they can’t close on holidays just because people are celebrating Thanksgiving etc. And seniority would seem to the rule as to determining who provides that coverage. Ideally, people should be able to volunteer or not. But in tough times, it seems that the added income would be far more beneficial than the hardship of not being there to celebrate. There’s all kinds of reasons people cannot celebrate on a particular day. As someone who has a married child, you make do if they need to spend a holiday with the other family, and you celebrate when you are able to be together.
Jason Werth.
Bryce Harper.
Dang. Thought a lasagniappe was what you left on the table after being served noodles and meat sauce at a fancy restaurant.
I disagree, somewhat. When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was a halcyon time when all of my maternal relatives got together for a big dinner at a different house each year, with different aunts and friends bringing different dishes and the men monitoring the punch bowl.
The table was stretched to the max with various smaller tables added on to accomodate all. The day would be spent cooking, serving, eating, and washing up. Children (who didn’t see all that much of each other) could play games all afternoon, while the adults told stories.
Then, someone invented TV and decided to run football games and parades on TG. That was distraction enough. To add insult to injury, the State of Wisconsin decided to hold hunting season open on TG, which further desecrated a lovely tradition.
With family now living far away, I am now reduced to finding my TG dinner in a restaurant. So sad. I refuse to even THINK about shopping on TG. Let someone else have the bargains. I don’t need any of that stuff.
I was just wishing that I had a separate supply of pants to wear once a month when I am bloated. ;-)
there is no going back to those days, the genie is out of the bottle. people are not going to sit for stores, restaurants etc being closed on Thanksgiving. it is a lovely tradition and millions still celebrate it that way. others have had to make new traditions to accommodate a changing reality. I have no need to go on Thanksgiving day, I do my shopping on Black Friday. But there are workers whose paychecks have been slashed due to only part time hours etc. that could use the additional $. I have asked my dog walker if she was available to take my two pups Thurs-Sat. I said please do NOT feel obligated to take them just because I ask, if it’s inconvenient or if you simply don’t feel like it PLEASE tell me. She replied that her business is slow around the holidays because people take off work and don’t need her to walk their dogs, and she likes having the extra income to help stabilize her cash flow during the holidays. That made me feel better that she actually appreciates the extra $ from housing my two for a few days.
Well, yeah, but I read some of the malls are opening on Thanksgiving and forcing all of the retailers to be open.
Not a lot of people going to be up running out Thanksgiving night to rent a tux, but the tux store has to be open or get fined by the mall management.
i’m sure your sweatpants can accommodate you ; )
People who have divorced people in their families know ALL ABOUT splitting holidays and what a pain it is every single time. Someone is always going to get their feelings hurt. I haven’t seen seniority used as to who works holidays, it is usually required of employees of any field that are open on those days, and that’s not just health care or firefighting or policework. Some would rather sacrifice a few bucks to have that time with their families. I wish things were closed on holidays more, to allow families that opportunity.
Speaking of football, how about those Badgers?
It’s like one minute Nebraska was winning 17-3, and then the next it was 59-17. I hate whenever I give up 8 straight touchdowns.
I agree 75%, because family watching football together is a good thing. ;)
Not everyone has the luxury of sacrificing a few bucks, though. Some people really NEED the extra income to make ends meet. I think that businesses should have the freedom to decide whether to open or not. I don’t think gov’t should mandate such a thing. And if the populace cared enough to NOT go, to those businesses which were open, then the business decision to open/not open would be impacted. I just don’t think you are going to get enough people interested in boycotting to make that a reality.
Badgers? We don’t need no steenking badgers!
A++++ looks YUMMY!
Who said anything about boycotting? I don’t like people being forced to work on holidays to keep their job.
Sorry. I didn’t watch the game. More interested in the Packers.
53-20 over the Phuladelphia Eagles
38-17 over the Chicago Bears
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