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Definition:
b) to be overly critical about minor details
German translation:
nitpick = kleinlich oder pingelig sein
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GOOGLE INDEX
nitpick: approximately 1,000,000 hits
Sample text:
Want a Happy Marriage? Be Nice, Don't NITPICK.
(WebMD)
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A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration against a medical manufacturer, calling the lawsuit a NITPICKING case -- the result of a communication failure between the two parties.
(Salt Lake City Desert News)
Did you know?
nitpick
verb
- to give too much attention to unimportant details, especially as a way of criticizing
nitpicker
noun
- someone who nitpicks
nitpicking
noun/adjective
- giving too much attention to unimportant details
- a nitpicking attitude
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
A nit is the term for lice eggs. Nitpicking is the act of removing nits from the hair of someone who has been infested with lice. Since nits are "glued" to individual hairs with louse saliva, they cannot be removed with a normal comb. Before modern chemical methods were invented, the only options were to shave the person's hair or pick the nits by hand, one by one.
This is a slow and laborious process. It was largely abandoned as modern chemical methods became available. However, as lice populations can and do develop resistance, manual nitpicking is still sometimes necessary.
Thus nitpicking is synonymous with attention to detail and is used to describe the practice of putting significant effort into searching for minor, even trivial errors in detail and then criticising them.
Note:
The word lice is the plural form of the singular louse, which is related to the German "Laus/Läuse." Louse is also colloquial for a mean, despicable person. Lousy, another related word, is an adjective that means very inferior, unpleasant or contemptible (a lousy film, a lousy relationship).
The verb "to louse" means to mismanage or mess something up (He really loused up that project).
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SYNONYMS
verb
bother, carp, cavil, censure, complain, criticize, find fault, fuss, grumble, henpeck, hypercriticise, knock, nag, nitpick, noodge, objurgate, pan, peck, pick at, quibble, reproach, split hairs
noun
blamer, carper, caviller, censor, censurer, complainer, defamer, detractor, disapprover, disparager, disputer, doubter, fault finder, fretter, hair splitter, hypercritic, knocker, maligner, muckraker, mud-slinger, nagger, quibbler, reviler, scolder, slanderer, vilifier, worrier
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY’S CONVERSATION
say something like:
"Hi Bob,… I don’t want to nitpick, but I still need to ask you some detailed questions in order to finish the report."
Have a great weekend!
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And now...
Today's Learning Tip (21):
USE SEVERAL STRATEGIES
To learn a specific word, don’t rely on just one of the strategies given above. Use several techniques. Try them all out and see which ones work best for you. Learning really is more effective if it is fun, use the techniques you enjoy!
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