Eggcorn: picky-uny

James Callan james.callan at COMCAST.NET
Wed Sep 5 20:58:35 UTC 2007


A woman in my office has referred to "picky-uny" details a few times, referring to nitpicky stuff that doesn't need special attention.

I hadn't heard that before, so I googled it, originally spelling it "picky oony," which pulled up a few hits. As did "pickyoony" and "picky uny" and "pickyuny" -- which suddenly made me realize where this might have come from: repeating a phonetic pronunciation of "picayune."

Google doesn't show it being exceptionally popular, but it's out there. Anyone heard it before?

James Callan

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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