Ok so Nigh yeild nigher and nighest, and near has nearer and nearest, but
waistcoat (with its old UK prononciation of w(schwa)s cot created a whole new word in US--> wescot! (and the in US we say GRIND stone, not grin stin--
there are many words that people know in spoken vocabulary, that get mangled when commited to paper (classicly, baited breath*--yes, i know, its bated breath!)
it quite possible (likely?) people who were unfamiliar with the irregular set of compartive and superlative set nigh/near/next would treat each word individually and create, following the regular rules sets of compartive words for nigh and near.
(slang and cartoons use nextest--a silly superlative of a superlative (to match worsest!--mostest exist too, (as in the hostest with the mostest (there is another set, (more/most)
usage errors that have lead to whole new words are not exactly unknow in english.
more about baited breath--be prepared to groan..
in the mid west, and north of part of america, ice fishing is a common winter activity.
there are huts and often open sites where people ice fish.
many long cold hours pass, and most of the fishermen on one lake are finding nothing biting. but as they begin to head back to shore, they come across a bunch of grinning girls who have a pile of fish.
several fishermen stand by for a few minutes, and watch as one of the girl pulls yet another fish out of the ice!
he is amazed and asks "what your secret?" the girl mumbles something he doesn't understand, so he askes again.
by now, the fish is landed and girl is ready to bait another hook.. so she opens her mouth, spits out a handfull of night crawlers, and says "warm bait"--a classic case of baited breath!
