Ever get accused of "Splitting Hairs"

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Earlier today, I was accused by a former work colleague of “splitting hairs”. As I thought about it, I remembered having been accused of this before, especially at work. As I tend to be fairly exacting about everything. I was curious if this happened to others.

I had to put the computer down and walk away laughing. Not at you, at me. Yeah, I've been accused of that countless times.

i never heard that term before, what does it mean?

Getting so focused on details and missing the bigger picture, or trying so hard to win an argument that you are focused on the sentence structure or trifles rather than the argument itself, depending on the context. At least, that is what I figure based on when people tell me that I'm "splitting hairs"

oh, i definately do that but no one ever said that to me

That claim, something I've heard myself over the years, comes from someone who's unable to see fine distinctions between two different things, and (in a sense) is too lazy mentally to take the step needed to see that difference once someone points it out to them.

You try to explain to them "But it's two different things" and they're too dull and too angry to open the eyes of their mind and see you're right.

Not always so. See my reply above.

This makes sense. I've often wondered what that expression meant. I still get a picture of a girl with long hair holding a single strand and splitting it in two

I know what the expression means, but I get the same mental image. I've been told I do that on occasion, usually when I'm just trying to be precise.

I actually do that sometimes so the accusations are usually right. I don't always do it on purpose but I still manage to do it.

Yes, my som and I both do it, and it drives other people crazy. We don't get angry, we both simply have exact ideas about how stuff should be, or how to best go about doing something, etc.

Yes I have been there. I assume it means bringing something up that is irrelevant and has nothing to do with the discussion or doing a straw man. That's what it sounds like to me what it is. You can do it unintentionally. When you get that accusation, it just means "stop, listen to what the person is saying, what you are saying has nothing to do with that they are saying and that is not what they mean."

I still have the image in my mind about someone splitting their hair like they do when braiding it or fixing it.

I've never quite understood it, to be honest. I know that it means fighting over something that is supposedly pointless and I get told that I do it quite a bit, but I truthfully don't really get the image. I always think of finding a split end in my hair and pulling it apart. It isn't related to fighting at all, so I don't really get it.

Yep, that and being too analytically and over-thinking things. But, when you think about it, the typical head hair is thicker than a lot of other things that scientists split for good reasons.

In the situations that I have been accused of “splitting hairs”, both of the above seem correct. Because the other person is being mentally lazy, it is assumed that the distinctions are irrelevant. When they are not.

My brother sometimes makes fun of me for my sentences that start with, "Well, technically...". So yes.

I also have the innate ability to overthink things: Sometimes this comes in useful, but other times it just stresses me out.