Avoiding Evil

Each day I recieve a new “Word Of The Day” in my e-mail. It is a good way to increase my vocabulary by learning new words, and thus I have decided to share my vast increasing knowledge. Without further ado, here is todays Word of the Day:

persnickety \per-SNIK-uh-tee\ adjective

1 *a : fussy about small details : fastidious b : having the characteristics of a snob
2 : requiring great precision

Example sentence:
I have a friend who is persnickety about signs and graphic images, therefore, I am careful to keep my images propotionate so as not to stretch them outside of their aspect ratio.

Did you know?
Persnickety people like things neat and tidy, but the etymology of “persnickety” doesn’t provide the kind of clean, clear explanation that appeals to the fastidious. “Persnickety” was first documented in English in 1915 as an alteration of “pernickety,” a word that has the same meaning. “Pernickety” goes back to the early 1800s. To be sure, nothing out of order there. Now let’s sweep up the remains and tie the whole thing up — but wait, we can’t. The rest of the word’s “history” ends up being useless clutter. Some say “pernickety” might be from a child’s version of “particular”; others, that the “nick” part came from association with “knick-knack.” But it’s all pure conjecture, and no one knows for sure