Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 13:22:05 -0600 From: Tom Klingler Subject: picayune I decided to call the New Orleans Times-Picayune to find out why they adopted such an odd name. The answer is as follows: When the paper began publishing in 1837, it sold for six and a quarter cents, approximately the value of an old Spanish coin which had been known as a picayune. In the years that followed, only the name remained the same--the paper now sells for a whopping fifty cents. Tom Klingler Tom Klingler Assistant Professor Department of French and Italian Tulane University New Orleans, LA 70118 (504) 865-5115 (office) (504) 865-8020 Email: klingler[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu