[62] Lagniappe, a word familiar to every child in New Orleans, signifies the little present given to purchasers of groceries, provisions, fruit, or other goods sold at retail stores. Groceries, especially, seek to rival each other in the attractive qualities of their lagniappe; consisting of candies, fruits, biscuits, little fancy cakes, etc. The chief purpose is to attract children. The little one sent for a pound of butter, or “a dime’s worth” of sugar, never fails to ask for its lagniappe.
158. Laguer vêti pas ka pouend viéx nègues nans cabarets. (La guerre avertie ne prend pas de vieux négres dans les cabarets.)
“Threatened war doesn’t surprise old negroes in the grog-shops.”[63]—[Trinidad.]
[63] Proverbs 158-[9] are equivalent to our “Forewarned is forearmed.”
159. * Laguerre vertie pas tchué beaucoup soldats. (La guerre avertie ne tue pas beaucoup de soldats.)
“Threatened war doesn’t kill many soldiers.”—[Louisiana.]
160. Lakhé bef dit: Temps allé, temps vini. (La queue du bœuf dit: Le temps s’en va, le temps revient.)
“The ox’s tail says: Time goes, time comes.”[64]—[Martinique.]
[64] See [Proverb 22]. Whether the swing of the tail suggested the idea of a pendulum to the deviser of this saying is doubtful. The meaning seems to me that the motion of the ox’s tail indicates a change not of time, but of weather (temps).