Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
This is a reasonably common (to my SC-conditioned ears anyway) (mis)pronunciation of the phrase pretty near . It is phonologically driven or conditioned by laziness, specifically by the fact that it is easier to shift from t to n without the slight lowering of the tongue from the palate to pronounce the [i] (‘y’). (Note for example the non-occurrence of pert crazy as a variant of pretty crazy .)
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It occurs thousands of times on the web (though the google numbers were lower than I’d have guessed). Doubtless most of these are simply attempts at rendering the pronunciation, and need imply no semantic restructuring. Nevertheless, for me at least, and pretty clearly for at least a few others , the word pert is in some degree, eggcornishly, perceived, giving the phrase a bit of a jaunty, perky feel.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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There is a bluegrass/old-time band in Minnesota called Pert Near Sandstone (http://www.pertnearsandstone.com/). The reference is to Sandstone, Minnesota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstone,_Minnesota) and possibly the Federal prison located there. I think they knew what they were doing when they named the band.
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DavidTuggy wrote:
This is a reasonably common (to my SC-conditioned ears anyway) (mis)pronunciation of the phrase pretty near .
FWIW, it’s not just southern. My grandpa, and IIRC, other old-timers in Michigan where I grew up, used to pronounce it pretty close to “pert near”.
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