Wednesday, December 22, 2010

lagniappe \LAN-yap\, noun:

1. A small gift given with a purchase to a customer, for good measure.

2. A gratuity or tip.

3. An unexpected or indirect benefit.

Lagniappe originates chiefly in Southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas and ultimately comes from a variant of the Quechua yapa, "that which is added."

gift card laundering

• The act of using a gift card to purchase another gift card of equal or slightly greater value in order to hide the fact that you're just regifting the original gift card.

After I do some gift card laundering at the mall today, these gift cards I got last Christmas will be squeaky clean and ready for regifting. No one will ever catch on to my operation - muhahaHAHA!

Trivia

What famous American political figure wrote and published a “letter of advice” on the subject of choosing a mistress?

• Benjamin Franklin, in 1745.

Today's Holiday

• Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere)
• Summer Solstice (Southern Hemisphere)

History

• Embargo Act: the US banned trade with foreign countries in response to interference with neutral American ships by France and Britain, which were at war with each other (1807)
• Beethoven's Fifth: and Sixth Symphonies premiered (1808)
• Dreyfus Affair: French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason in a trial that raised cries of anti-Semitism; he was later exonerated (1894)
• USGA: governing body of golf was founded (1894)
• Colo: the first gorilla bred in captivity was born in the Columbus Zoo; she is now a great-great-grandmother (1956)
• Flight 63: American Airlines passenger Richard Reid attempted to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb; he is serving a life sentence for that plot (2001)

Birthdays

• Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): composer of La Bohème and Madame Butterfly
• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944): writer who founded the Futuristic artistic movement; plus, poet Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)
• Lady Bird Johnson (1913-2007): wife of President Lyndon Johnson
• Diane Sawyer (65): TV journalist, former co-host of Good Morning America who took over as anchor of ABC World News
• Robin Gibb (61): singer/songwriter, The Bee Gees; also, singers Maurice Gibb (1949-2003) and Jordin Sparks (21)
• Ralph Fiennes (48): Oscar-nominated actor, Schindler's List, The English Patient; other actors born on this date include Peggy Ashcroft (1907-1991), Barbara Billingsley (1915-2010), Hector Elizondo (74), Lauralee Bell (42) and Chris Carmack (30)