I'm not sure if I'm opening a pandoras box here but why is it that for some people nit picking seems to be the only reason they are here. Just for clarity it's not related to a posting I've made just an observation. Seems almost like they want to provoke other members.
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Xantia HDi.
Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
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Boredom, perhaps?
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well done , made me laugh out loud
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I think that it is a strength of this site that there are a few people who do really know their onions and are prepared to post corrections or explanations - this is especially valuable where the correction runs contrary to widely held poular belief.
I think it is also reasonable to say that one man's pedantic nit-picking can be another man's much needed clarification - after all, what use is the wrong answer to anyone?
Sometimes, the right answer isn't the one that the original poster wanted to hear, but, that's life!, and it certainly doesn't justify giving the wrong answer!
Number_Cruncher
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Number_Cruncher, either the exclamation mark or the comma is superflous in your post. If you did wish to use the exclamation mark, it would be best not to start the sentence with "and".
: )
I am, of course, joking. On a serious note, I would say that I do agree with Number_Cruncher, BUT I do sometimes feel that people "deliberately" take offence or misunderstand (my posting re Raymond Baxter, or "Baxtergate" as I term it, being a case in point). However, I am prepared to concede that had I worded and therefore explained my point better, it would have been less likely to be misconstrued.
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It is nit-picking (noun) and nitpick (verb) in the dictionary (that I keep in the CAR).
I do this kind of thing for a living. Sad, eh?
Zebra
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If indeed you are "nit picking" then you are in the wrong forum.
NHS Direct would be of more use to yourself. Or even a suitable shampoo from a chemist.
Fleabag.
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I go to another site, related to aviation, and there young men ask questions about joining the military. Candidly their English language, syntax and grammar are rubbish. However, instead of getting an answer to their question(s), they get flamed and their posts treated as a bad essay at school "2 out of 10 See ME!" Luckily there doesn't seem to be much of that here although I do wish there was an edit facility and/or a spell checker!
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> and/or a spell checker!
Use the new Firefox 2.0 browser, it has a built in spell checker.
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OK here is the thing that prompted it -
>>There are various metallic grey colours which are different from silver. Are you referring to these metalic grey colours, or are you referring to silver - or are you just lumping them all together?
Now if I was to nit-pick (!) I could say that no usual car is 'silver' unless it's plated. You see what I mean. What the hell did it have to do with the thread question? Nothing constructive IMHO.
AAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!
Off now for a lie down!!
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Xantia HDi.
Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
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Hmm...
Not wanting to nit pick, but I wouldn't describe that post as nit picking. I can see where the poster is coming from. I would definitely call silver a boring colour, but some of the 'metallic greys' that you can get, which are nearly black, are very nice.
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I agree with you, BazzaBear. Completely and utterly. Many folk think silver is a very boring car colour,, but that metallic grey is nice.
But I'm still trying to work out where Glowplug is coming from.
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... Many folk think silver is a very boring car colour,, but that metallic grey is nice. ..
>>
bmw have metallics in grey, steel-grey, and titanium-silver.
they look very different, and i.m.o the grey ones could not be described as silver by any stretch of the imagination.
i find their steel-grey too dull, while the grey is ok, and the titanium-silver the best of the three.
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I think chat forums like this spawn pedantry. An unguarded comment in a pub is rapidly forgotten. On a chat forum it can be mulled over and examined at leisure. Research can be undertaken to confirm a contrary view, and best of all the evidence can be presented by way of links.
Wikipedia is a case in point. You would imagine, would you not, that an encyclopedia with no structure, to which anybody is free to contribute, would rapidly become a load of old cobblers. Au contraire, repeated iterations by increasingly better informed contributors eventually tend toward a perfect article - political or similar arguments notwithstanding.
Therefore on a site like this, which has a much higher standard of contributor - in terms of education and experience - than many chat sites, the chances are that somebody will be able to offer further information, clarification or correction of earlier advice.
You may call it 'nit picking', the rest of us know better... ;)
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I agree with mapmaker and I think the way things are written can sometimes seem as though they are nit-picking when they are just an input from someone who knows alot about the subject and as you say - people on this site do know alot about motoring and cars.
I have been accused of being picky & sneery with my comments and that is never the intent when posting them. The way they are written and they way they are read can be taken very differently by different people.
I take the view that people on this site post becasue they want to discuss and share knowledge and help and I enter into in that way.
If everybody agreed with each other all the time I would probably stop posting - I personally have learned alot from people on this site.
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I think one of the nicest - well, perhaps funniest - aspects of this forum is the standard responses to the 'does anyone know for definite, what the answer is to this potentially expensive, potentially dangerous issue I'm unsure about please?'
This is invariably followed by 'yes, the answer is absolutely 'a' and you can sleep in peace'
then 'no, aargh, change the oil/cambelt/witness statement/girlfriend/alibi as soon as you can, you mad fool'
then a variety of similar, but increasingly 'loud' responses favouring both sides...
usually, the right answer is quietly given by someone who does have a clue what they're on about, but gets ignored in the 'tis/tisn't' school of argument.
Why does no-one ever think 'you know, I'm really not sure about that, I think I'll just keep out of this and either see if someone who does know happens along' or even 'you know, I think I'll look at a factual source and helpfully find out the correct answer before vouchsafing my opinion'.
In fairness, I suppose, there has to be an honourable mention for Adam (has he gone yet, or is it still a farewell tour?) who has so often said in an early reply to such a question such gems as 'dunno, but there'll be someone who does have a clue along in a minute' which has never failed to raise a wry smile. Hugely valuable... well, funny anyway.
Great stuff... and always an interesting diversion from the 'I can't see the point of X, lets ban it' which forms the basis of the other thread...!
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you forgot "(C) Reject it immediatly and write to the Managing Director of Shoddy Motor PLC (whose top secret email address is MD@Shoddymotor.co.uk)
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Pug,
You just made me day!
Neil
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That's a very good point by Mapmaker, and the Wikipaedia example is fascinating. It would repay study by someone I feel, regarding the precise mechanism that causes truth to emerge from chaos.
Without nitpickers all sorts of myths and old wives' tales and downright lies become ingrained in the collective mentality as all-time truths. It's always open to anyone to step outside the debate once he thinks his original simple question has been satisfactorily answered.
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"Why does no-one ever think 'you know, I'm really not sure about that, I think I'll just keep out of this and either see if someone who does know happens along' or even 'you know, I think I'll look at a factual source and helpfully find out the correct answer before vouchsafing my opinion'."
Um - I don't want to nit-pick, but how do you know that no-one does that? I do that keeping well clear thing with almost every thread. Crikey, I do that over breakfast with SWMBO.
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Nit-picking leads to some very boring threads ~ but not this one I hasten to add!
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L\'escargot.
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Surely pedantry is better than nit-picking anyway.
It must be better to call someone a pedant rather than a nit-picker. A nit-picker seems to conjure up a chimpanzee like image in my mind.
I was not trying to split hairs.....
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Talking of nit picking, as this is not motoring related, I'm locking it.
DD.
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