picayune

[Stephanie Hysmith]

Beverly wrote:
>I too have known the word all my life--from very non-francophone Minnesota
>(though not too far from Canada, of course; we also had 'shivaree').

I've known it all my life as well, growing up in Northern Virginia, with a
father who was from Oklahoma. I learned shivaree from the musical, "Oklahoma."

  Since >Bethany, Vicki, Ron, Rudy, and I are all in roughly the same age
category >(I don't know about Sean), it may indeed be that the word is
passing out of>use;

I think it's an age thing too. I use it on occasion--it's a great word--but
don't recall hearing it too much around SE Ohio.

>Just a guess:  Might 'picky' as an adj. meaning fussy or
>looking-for-something-to-criticize have come from 'picayune' (anglicized by
>people who wouldn't have known the spelling)?

This is exactly what I thought, too, that it's a clipped form, sort of like
perks for perquisites.

Stephanie