split hairs

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

1. (idiomatic) Tedious details; minutiae.
   • 1999, Lev Grossman, "Microsoft Tangled Up in Videotape Evidence," Time, 4 Feb.,

     The Microsoft trial had been in danger of slipping out of the public eye. Its endless procession of less-than-riveting economics professors and forgetful executives, mixed with scads of legal and technical split hairs, just hasn't made for gripping headlines.

Translations

tedious details

• Finnish: hiustenhalkominen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Haarspalterei (de) f
• Italian: pignolo (it) m, cavilloso (it) m, pedante (it) m, perfezionista (it) m, calia (it) m

Verb

split hairs (third-person singular simple present splits hairs, present participle splitting hairs, simple past and past participle split hairs)

1. (idiomatic) To consider or argue about fine details; to worry about minutiae.

   Let's get everything sorted into the right drawers and not split hairs about subdividing it further yet.

Synonyms

• cavil

Related terms

• hair-splitting
• hair-splittingly

Translations

to consider fine details

• Breton: spazhañ laou (br)
• Finnish: halkoa hiuksia (fi)
• French: couper les cheveux en quatre (fr), chercher la petite bête (fr)
• German: Haarspalterei betreiben, Haare spalten
• Italian: spaccare il capello in quattro, cercare il pelo nell'uovo, pignolare, fiscalizzare (it), cavillare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 枝葉末節にとらわれる (しようまっせつにとらわれる, shiyōmassetsu ni torawareru), 重箱の隅を楊枝でほじくる (じゅうばこのすみをようじでほじくる, jūbako no sumi o yōji de hojikuru)
• Polish: dzielić włos na czworo impf
• Russian: вдаваться в тонкости
• Spanish: hilar fino
• Swedish: hårklyveri (sv)

See also

• chop logic
• nitpick