Meticulous & Pedantic (adjectives)
2017.02.08
Meaning:
Many Japanese students ask me for a translation of the Japanese sentence ‘He/She is komakai’. The dictionary translation of ‘komakai’ is ‘detailed, small’. But when you talk about a ‘komakai’ person, you usually mean ‘someone who pays very, very close attention to small details’. I think 2 of the best words in English for this are a) meticulous and b) pedantic. Meticulous has a positive nuance. Pedantic has a negative nuance. But they both mean the same thing – someone who cares (a lot!) about small details.
Example:
A: I’m so happy with my new gardener! She’s meticulous! She even cut some of my grass with scissors to make sure it looked good.
B: Really??? That’s too much. How long did she take to cut your grass?
A: 6 hours…
B: Ugh! What a waste of time! Pedantic behaviour like that really annoys me.
Talking Point(s):
Are you meticulous? Pedantic? Or neither?