picayune/picayunish

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
dsteve54
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picayune/picayunish

Postby dsteve54 » Sat Aug 13, 2011 12:31 am

picayune/picayunish....I can look it up and all. It is just a word(s) that might make an interesting choice for Word of the Day discussion, and I did not seem to find it in the Good Word archive.

[ no reply needed....I can see it in dictionaries, etymology lists, etc. ]
Known in restaurant circles by quasi-Thai moniker, "That Guy" (e.g. heard in the back.."that guy is here again"; "that guy on/at table 10"; "that guy is going for a sirloin again", etc.)

Half the distance in half the states...from half2run.com

dsteve54
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Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:26 pm
Location: USA (Fort Collins, Colorado)

Postby dsteve54 » Sat Aug 13, 2011 12:33 am

....and it may be a springboard for the word "picky", which may or may not have been discussed; I did not check.
Known in restaurant circles by quasi-Thai moniker, "That Guy" (e.g. heard in the back.."that guy is here again"; "that guy on/at table 10"; "that guy is going for a sirloin again", etc.)

Half the distance in half the states...from half2run.com

Perry Lassiter
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Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:12 am

Intesting idea. Never associated picky with picayune. Now I wonder if it went the other way from pick, to choose, to picky, over-choose, to picayune?
pl

Audiendus
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Postby Audiendus » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:21 am

The Online Etymology Dictionary gives the first recorded date of picayune as 1804, meaning "coin of small value". Probably from Louisiana French picaillon, "coin worth 5 cents", from Provençal picaio, "money". I wondered if it might have some connection with the prefix pico, "one-trillionth" (i.e. a tiny value), but apparently not.

It is not a word much used in the UK.

LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:47 pm

I don't see nor hear picayune used much, but interesting
discussion here.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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