nitpicker(n.)
也称为 nit-picker,意为“吹毛求疵的批评家”,最早出现于1951年,也有可能是1946年,是一个比喻用法,据说最初是军事术语; 参见 nit(名词)+ pick(动词)。
Two long-time Pentagon stand-bys are fly-speckers and nit-pickers. The first of these nouns refers to people whose sole occupation seems to be studying papers in the hope of finding flaws in the writing, rather than making any effort to improve the thought or meaning; nit-pickers are those who quarrel with trivialities of expression and meaning, but who usually end up without making concrete or justified suggestions for improvement. [Collier's, Nov. 24, 1951]
两个长期在五角大楼使用的词汇是 fly-speckers 和 nit-pickers。前者指的是那些唯一的职业似乎是研究文件,希望在写作中找到缺陷,而不是努力改进思想或意义; nit-pickers 是那些对表达和意义的琐碎问题挑剔的人,但通常最终没有提出具体或合理的改进建议。[《科利尔杂志》,1951年11月24日]
该词起源时间:1951年