Nitpicking and other pet peeves

[GenMarshall]

Before I go ahead and place the question. Is best that I define the term "nitpicking". Here is what Wikipedia, IMO, best defines nitpicking:

"As nitpicking inherently requires fastidious, meticulous attention to detail, the term has become appropriated to describe the practice of meticulously searching for minor, even trivial errors in detail (often referred to as "nits" as well), and then criticising them. "Nitpicker" in this sense was often used after 1951, predominantly in the United States." - Wikipedia

I am curious to know how the CFC community percives nitpicking as nothing major or downright annoying.

 

[CaptainF]

I try not to pick nits.

Because it is annoying when other people do it. I try to look at the big picture and not be a spelling/grammar nazi.

 

[.Shane.]

Your thread title made me think this quote, from the greatest movie of all time:

Marty: "Let's talk about your reviews a little bit. Regarding, Intravenous de Milo: This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth rate of this band can not even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of ******** sexuality and bad poetry."
Nigel: "Well, that's-- that's nitpicking, isn't it?"

 

[Narz]

So many nits, so little time.

Seriously, I try not to nitpick but it doesn't really annoy me. Well, not too much.

 

[Perfection]

Nitpicking is annoying and irrelevant. I only engage in it when it has humor value or I feel like being a dick.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

When I was younger my Father nitpicked every piece of work I did in school. Drove me mad that no matter the grade he'd find something wrong in there. Now thank him for it because it means that I try to merticulous and get things right rather than "it'll do". It also helped my grammer and spellings.

That said, I still hate nitpicking on the internet which to me is written speech. I'm not 100% grammatical when I talk, why should I be when I post?

 

[Arcadian83]

"Nitpicking" is a pejorative term. Everyone (unless they're really bad) agrees nitpicking is best avoided. What most people don't agree on is which things are nits and which are not.

For instance I may think someone is being unable to let go of a minor detail which does not matter in the big picture, but they think it is important. I may accuse them of picking nits. They will reply that it is not a nit.

When I find myself annoyed by nitpicking, it is usually when people argue semantics.

I do think good spelling and grammar are important to help people be taken seriously, but pointing it out in a not-helpful way is nitpicking.

 

[ArneHD]

Like PrinceOfLeigh, I dislike it when people use bad grammar on the internett. Other than that, I might nitpick a bit.

 

[azzaman333]

Nitpicking is annoying and irrelevant. I only engage in it when it has humor value or I feel like being a dick.

All the time???

 

[The Last Conformist]

I'm an incorregible nitpicker, I'm afraid.

 

[Rambuchan]

I am curious to know how the CFC community percives nitpicking as nothing major or downright annoying.

There should really be a comma, hyphen or some other kind of punctuation mark placed in between the words "as" and "nothing" in this last sentence. I'd also question your use of the word "as" here. I mean, is it really necessary? Ideally, you should also have turned this into a question, with the simple use of a question mark. That's all besides the blatant spelling error / typo in "perceives"

I didn't vote, because "teh poll options suck".

 

[Veritass]

"Nitpicking" is right up there with "being judgmental." Just because it is overused and some people resent it, doesn't mean it is invalid. Nitpicking is extremely useful when editing technical documents and designing interfaces and specs. Ever look at the SCSI spec? Horrendously nitpicky, but necessary.

An example of "good nitpicking": At my last employer, we had a design review meeting about a programming interface. I pointed out that a symbol MAX_LUN had been defined as 256, and explained that actually, since the LUNs were numbered from 0 to 255, MAX_LUN should be 255, and MAX_LUNS should be 256. My boss, the originator of the spec, natively speaks Chinese, which doesn't have the same use of plurals as English does, so this is a nit he probably wouldn't know to pick. Of course, he took this nitpicking personally and objected to my wanting to change the spec, saying it had already been sent to the customer. My reply: "Well, if it is already cast in concrete, why are we supposedly having a design review?"

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

Am I the only one who sees the irony of the thread title?

Yeah, I guess so... I'm a nitpicker

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'm also a hypocrit who hates other hypocrits.

 

[Perfection]

All the time???

Not when I'm sleeping!

 

[El Justo]

i particularly dislike nitpickers in my scenario threads, especially when they pick nits over spelling, grammar, etc.

even worse is when those who pick nits hadn't even played the scenario. kind of like a hit-n-run...how annoying!

 

[Scuffer]

It annoys the hell out of me. Focus on the important things!

 

[Sophie 378]

I do it sometimes, usually with spelling or grammar. When I see dreadfully wrong things, like using "there" instead of "their", it feels (to my grammar-sense) like when you're walking along in the house and suddenly catch your sleeve on a doorknob - and stubbing your toes simultaneously.

 

[Rambuchan]

i particularly dislike nitpickers in my scenario threads, especially when they pick nits over spelling, grammar, etc.

even worse is when those who pick nits hadn't even played the scenario. kind of like a hit-n-run...how annoying!

Starting your sentences without capitals.

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

I do it sometimes, usually with spelling or grammar. When I see dreadfully wrong things, like using "there" instead of "their", it feels (to my grammar-sense) like when you're walking along in the house and suddenly catch your sleeve on a doorknob - and stubbing your toes simultaneously.

I have a worse peeve, when people use common phrases yet miswrite them so it's clear they don't understand the actual words, but are just using the phrase because they've heard it before.

Like saying X "is do to" Y instead of due to.