Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PERSNICKETY

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connect today's word to others: Someone who's picky, fussy, finicky, and particular is persnickety. Persnickety is a delightful little word, one that many people embrace as a favorite. I'd love to tell you exactly where it came from or what its roots mean, but no one knows for sure.  Theories abound, though. Here's what we do know. A snicket is a narrow alleyway, and something snickety is fussy or demanding. (Is that because it's so tricky to navigate a narrow alleyway? Maybe!) Something pernickety--note the missing "s"--is also fussy or demanding. And yet pernickety and its more common form persnickety may not have anything to do with snickets; they may have arisen from silly alterations to the word particular or from any number of other silly-sounding words, from pernigglety to pick-nickerties to perjink. (Hee hee, perjink.) When you need a synonym of persnickety that won't make people giggle, you can pick from these: 1, f______ous, which means "extremely picky and demanding about details;" 2, m_____lous, which also means "very careful about all the details;" 3, n___ling, which means "spending a lot of time and effort getting all the little details right when they really don't matter;" and 4, scr____ous, which means "very careful to take care of every little detail in a morally correct way." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "PERSNICKETY" Persnickety people are too picky about small details. ("Persnickety" can also mean "snobby," but we hardly ever use that meaning today.) And persnickety things reveal or require too much pickiness about small details. Pronunciation: pur SNICK ih dee Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "a persnickety thing" or "a persnickety person." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was persnickety" or "He was persnickety.") Other forms: persnicketiness How to use it: This word is casual, with a slightly negative tone, and it's so fun to say that you can get away with using it in almost any situation. You're likely to get a smile out of your listeners who aren't expecting it. Talk about persnickety people and personalities, persnickety groups of people, and people's persnickety neatness or obsessiveness. Or, talk about people's persnickety ways, habits, manners, demands, moods, tempers, etc. People can be persnickety about things: "they're persnickety about their drinks," "we can't afford to be persnickety about our cabinetry." It's less common, but you can also talk about persnickety things, like persnickety tasks, jobs, equipment, issues, processes, etc. examples: Because she's persnickety about grading papers, she had a hard time ceding that task to the substitute. "Note to persnickety readers: the reboot, unlike the original, has no punctuation between 'Magnum' and 'P.I.' — something that was, apparently, the source of long debate at CBS." — John Koblin, The New York Times, 17 May 2018 study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "persnickety" means when you can explain it without saying "fussbudget" or "nit-picking." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "Among (someone's, or perhaps something's) persnickety demands is that (something is done in a particular way)." Example 1: "Among the client's persnickety demands is that we photograph her only when her chin is lifted greater than ninety degrees relative to her neck." Example 2: "Among the printer's persnickety demands is that the tray holds a stack of no more than ten sheets of paper at a time, well fanned-out on each side." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Uncommon Opposites! In each issue this month, I'll give you a rare word and its definition, and you come up with its more familiar opposite. For example, if I say, "To exfiltrate is to secretly withdraw people from a dangerous situation," then you come up with the opposite: "infiltrate." Or if I say, "An allograph is something written by someone other than the person concerned," then you come up with "autograph." We'll take these in order from easy to hard as the month goes on. Ready? From our previous issue: Jamais vu, French for "never seen," is the feeling that you’re seeing something for the first time, even though you know you’ve seen it before. What’s the opposite? Answer: Déjà vu (literally "already seen"). Try this today: According to Jewish law, something tref is unclean and not fit for eating. What’s the opposite? review today's word: 1. The opposite of PERSNICKETY is A. OBSERVANT. B. EASYGOING. C. CRUCIAL. 2. _____ forces you to be less persnickety. A. A deadline  B. Constant oversight  C. The possibility of seriously harming someone Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. A