THAT’s exactly how they pronounce it… it’s true… i hear it to this very day… as well as the infamous, “hey y’all!” ohhhh Lordy!
Say it! Hell, I’ve posted it! Shameless recovering Texan.
In Christopher Paul Curtis’ book The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, a thirteen year old character says to his little brother, “That was pure D welfare food.”
Author grew up in Flint Michigan; the novel takes place there, too.
Great young adult book, btw.
It should be noted that “pure-D” is almost always used in a negative way. You’ll hear “that’s pure-D bullcrap,” but you aren’t likely to hear “this is pure-D orange juice.” Although it means “genuine” or “bona fide,” it’s generally used to emphasize an entirely bad or undesirable thing.
Well this hasn’t been my experience… every single time I heard it, it was in the context of beauty:
“thaa-atz sUHch a PUR-Dee dress yure wear-rin!”
“ohhhh she’s soooooo PUR-dee!!!”
Anyone notice that the “region of use” for this phrase seems centered near the Texas panhandle? (At least based on the locations above… NE Okla, Amarillo, Abilene, etc.) For some reason, this stuff fascinates me (regional dialects, I mean).
Ah, but Pace, you’re using the word purty, as in pretty, and they’re talking about some bizarre expression, pure-D.
Even if it stood for damned, how does that make any more sense?
It almost makes sense, “That’s just pure damned nonsense” or “That’s just pure-D nonsense”.
Thanks, all. Real people really say it. I learned something here.
Looking around the net I found several people who claim it is a mispronounciation of purdy. If you substitute purdy for pure-D in any of the phrases people have mentioned, like “pure dee fool” and “pure-D bull” you get nonsense phrases, indicating those people made the connection between purdy for pure-D solely by a similarity in the spelling. The technical, etymological name for this is “pulling it out of your ass.”
The OED identifies “D” or “dee” as a euphemism for “damn(ed)” and dates it to the late 19th century.
Well lah-dee-effing-dah, Mr “I don’t have to go to the library because I have my own copy of the OED!” 
That could be read as “Thanks, it was nice to be validated,” spoken in Male-Bonding Trashtalk, but I think you knew that.
Ive heard this said since I was a child (living in New Orleans). I never knew what the d stood for. My boyfriend asked and your post was the only place I found where people were using it correctly. Folks are right here too…It typically has a negative connotation, but I have heard it paired with words like fun (when the fun wasn’t exactly wholesome.) Thanks for posting! 
I know this is a zombie thread, and you may not even still be a board member, but I want to point out that McMurtry was born and raised in Archer City, Texas, spent some of his formative years living on his grandfather’s ranch, is deeply steeped in the history and culture, and at one time was a rare book dealer in both Houston and Archer City. I would suggest that his research is very thorough.
To me, I associate it with Appalachia. And then only thru TV/movies so no doubt unlikely even in the hollers.
I’m sure I’ve heard the phrase “pure dee wrong” in a song lyric (or a spoken section in a song), but I can’t remember which song for the life of me. I thought it was Ray Stevens, but Google isn’t helping me.