Hair-splitting
[hair-split-ing] /ˈhɛərˌsplɪt ɪŋ/
noun
1.
the making of unnecessarily fine distinctions.
adjective
2.
characterized by such distinctions:
the hairsplitting arguments of a political debate.
/ˈhɛəˌsplɪtɪŋ/
noun
1.
the making of petty distinctions
adjective
2.
occupied with or based on petty distinctions
n.
“making over-nice distinctions,” by 1739, from hair + verbal noun from split (v.). To split hairs “make over-fine distinctions” is first recorded 1650s, as to cut the hair. Hair also being 18c. slang for “female pudendum,” hair-splitter was noted in 1811 as slang for “penis.”
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