My mom used this word back in West Virginia, along with others like the Shakespearean "lief," as "I'd as lief go to the party as not." With piert, it was used in a cute way to mean "show off" or 'prissy." "You're acting/looking awfully piert, aren't you," and the inflection was usually a statement and not a question. I think a lot of the more isolated rural areas of the east maintained and kept alive the older English words into this century. Now, so many are consider archaic.
Comments by renmama
renmama commented on the word piert
My mom used this word back in West Virginia, along with others like the Shakespearean "lief," as "I'd as lief go to the party as not." With piert, it was used in a cute way to mean "show off" or 'prissy." "You're acting/looking awfully piert, aren't you," and the inflection was usually a statement and not a question. I think a lot of the more isolated rural areas of the east maintained and kept alive the older English words into this century. Now, so many are consider archaic.
August 24, 2019