keepsake
noun

- a small present, usually not expensive, that is given to you by someone so that you will remember that person

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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ORIGIN

“Keepsake” meaning “anything kept or given to be kept for the sake of the giver; a token of friendship", is from 1790. The word was often used in the 1830s in the titles of popular holiday gift books containing beautiful engravings and mediocre poetry.

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V.I.P. KEEPSAKES

Richard Burton gave his wife Elizabeth Taylor a 69-carat pear-shaped diamond in 1969. A decade later, she auctioned it off and used the $5 million proceeds to help build a hospital in Botswana, saying “They need one badly and I certainly don’t need another ring.”

Animals have often been given as gifts between world leaders. President George Bush once received a komodo dragon. Vladimir Putin was given a puppy by Bulgaria, and China has been practising what’s known as ‘panda diplomacy’ for years.

In 2013 officials in Mali gifted a camel to President Francois Hollande of France. He promptly “re-gifted” it to a Timbuktu family for safe-keeping, who misunderstood his intention and made it into a stew!

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SYNONYMS of keepsake, something that serves to keep alive the memory of a person or eventcommemorative, KEEPSAKE, memento, memorial, monument, remembrance, reminder, souvenir, token

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SMUGGLE OWAD into today’s conversation, say something like:

“I always buy my kids a small KEEPSAKE whenever I travel away on business.”

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40