Eggcorn: picky-uny

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:58 PM +0000 9/5/07, James Callan wrote:
>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."

No doubt this pronunciation is widespread, but it probably would
forestall confusion to call it a spelling pronunciation than a
phonetic one, since /pIk@'yu:n/ is as phonetic a pronunciation as
/pIk@'yu:ni/.  Then "picky uny" or "pickyoony" would count as
phonetic spellings of spelling pronunciations.

LH

>
>Google doesn't show it being exceptionally popular, but it's out
>there. Anyone heard it before?
>
>James Callan
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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