# Ummm Ackchyually... What drives people to nitpick when they're wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2021, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745 "2021-09-16T09:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/41 "2021-09-17T15:11:31Z")
Oh, I think they know they’re wrong, at least in part. Otherwise they wouldn’t even nitpick; they’d just hammer on whatever they’re factually wrong about. But nitpicking about some tiny point is a way in their minds of saving face, by proving the other person just a little bit wrong, and by extension making themselves just a little bit right, and preserving their self-perceived status of being knowledgeable about something. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/42 "2021-09-17T16:19:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > One slice of bread contains 7% of your RDA of salt Are you sure this is incorrect? I make bread. My standard bread has something like 10 g of salt (salt, not sodium) and slices up into 20 slices. So each slice contains .5 g salt. The adult RDA for salt is 6 g and 7% of 6g is .42g. Maybe my bread is larger than supermarket flannel bread but this looks like the right ball park. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/43 "2021-09-17T17:18:39Z")
Yeah, I read that and was going to comment that it sounds right, but got distracted by other things. Anyhow, I just checked my loaf of white Butternut-brand bread, and one slice contains 170mg salt, 7% of US RDA, according to the label. My Martin’s potato bread has 105mg, 5%, for one slice, but one La Preferida 6-inch flour tortilla has 200mg, or 9%. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/44 "2021-09-17T19:34:16Z")
This was for a 400g white bloomer from Tesco, which contains 0.8g salt per 100g, so 3.2g salt for the whole loaf (the whole loaf is only just over 50% of the RDA for salt) Pre-sliced, the loaf is cut into about 22 slices. 3.2 / 22 is about 0.15g of salt per slice, or about 2.5% of a 6g RDA And people are _Always_ telling me I didn’t add enough salt ---
**Author:** ![Somethingwitty1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/somethingwitty1/32/8899_2.png) [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/45 "2021-09-18T08:21:54Z")
yeah I hate nitpickers. That is why I like the SDMB. none of that here. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/46 "2021-09-18T13:15:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > What makes people nitpick? Insecurity. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/47 "2021-09-19T00:26:05Z")
Sometimes I think it’s just boredom. They’re getting a conversation out of it at least. One of the other major reasons is that the truth conflicts with their perspective on reality. My ex was convinced that everyone in social housing gets given free furniture (in the the UK). Wrong, could be demonstrated in various ways online and also just by me being a social housing tenant and, well, knowing more about this than she did. Her worldview was that social housing tenants are the lucky ones and get given everything. It took her a lot of work and experience living with me to make herself accept the truth. She also thought social housing tenants didn’t pay utility bills, which sort of had some basis in fact, because there are some estates where some utilities are built in with the rent as part of the service charge, so you pay them all in one go - they are still listed separately on your bill, but they’re a flat rate. (It’s a terrible system that’s not very common and is being phased out). However, for people on benefits, or those who own a former social housing or council flat, those costs are separated and they have to pay them themselves. That was much easier for her to accept because I could agree that she had a reason to think what she did. Accepting that she had simply got something “wrong” was much more difficult. And occasionally if you realise you were wrong and they were right they will not let it lie, and you end up defending a position you don’t even believe in any more because they add little bits that you actually were right about, and there’s no polite way to end the topic. With the bread/salt thing, it might be correct in the US but not the UK due to either common levels of salt in bread, or differing RDAs for salt. I know relativism can be annoying, but sometimes it can explain misunderstandings. The problem with that particular nitpick is that it’s not hugely important that said slice contains 7% of your RDA, because it’s your overall salt intake that counts most. And generally that becomes high due to eating lots of products with too much added salt, not just a slice or two of bread a day. We do _need_ salt, after all. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/48 "2021-09-20T13:45:10Z")
> [@Somethingwitty1](#): > > yeah I hate nitpickers. That is why I like the SDMB. none of that here. Well that is factually incorrect! If you had specified “we don’t have posters who misunderstand sarcasm as a statement of fact” on the other hand. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/49 "2021-09-20T20:22:40Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Another factor is that people who like Being Right are very good at sounding authoritative and learned so when they go around saying “Oh, you absolutely mustn’t give peas to dogs” or “I think you’ll find it’s only called the Union Jack on a ship, actually” lots of people a) believe them and b) accept that it’s a Very Important bit of knowledge, so the habit tends to spread. Using pedantry to earn social status works! Or works enough to replicate itself, anyhow. This here is pretty much my husband. What drives me bonkers is that he often has relatively sound reasoning and puts his thoughts out there as though they were an edict from god, but he doesn’t compare his own reasoning and conclusions to less biased reasoning & conclusions. So yeah, if I were in his head, I might come to similar conclusions, which is what makes it so damn hard to argue against. I’ve started sounding like the SDMB sometimes: “Cite?” At one point it was bad enough we went to family therapy. It helped a LOT, but it still irritates him when I won’t just agree with his reasoning instead of relying, for example, on more up to date medical literature or child rearing data. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/50 "2021-09-20T21:52:41Z")
When the movie _Black Panther_ came out, I saw some people posting on social media about how _ackchyually_, the title character wasn’t the first black superhero in a movie; there was some obscure movie from decades ago that featured a black superhero. Of course it didn’t matter to them that there’s a big difference between the protagonist in a major Hollywood blockbuster and an old B movie few people likely saw and fewer remember. The important thing to them was that all the liberals celebrating the first black superhero were _wrong_. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/51 "2021-09-20T22:21:26Z")
The Incredibles was obscure? I’ve never heard the claim that Black Panther was the first black superhero in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/52 "2021-09-20T22:30:14Z")
I should have said first black superhero to be the actual main, title character. Frozone was more of a supporting character. ETA: It is also entirely possible that the people they thought they were proving wrong were in fact strawmen. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/53 "2021-09-20T22:37:51Z")
Black Panther wasn’t even the first black superhero in an MCU movie. But he was the first to headline one. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/54 "2021-09-20T22:39:17Z")
Please forgive me for answering the question that was asked instead of the one that should have been asked. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/55 "2021-09-21T04:14:17Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Black Panther wasn’t even the first black superhero in an MCU movie. But he was the first to headline one. Um, **[Blade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_(film))**? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/56 "2021-09-21T04:50:22Z")
I do this all the time. Mind you, I am not wrong… very often. But still, something drives me to give my opinion. _mea culpa_. ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/57 "2021-09-21T06:32:14Z")
Do you find yourself especially nitpicking words or phrases when you are not wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/58 "2021-09-21T07:27:18Z")
Does anyone _think_ they are wrong and still carry on thinking that thing? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/59 "2021-09-21T09:49:44Z")
The claim I remember that was clearly circulated at the time by Disney’s PR to every news outlet reporting on Black Panther was that “Black Panther is the first black superhero movie directed by a black director with a predominately black cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe” because both Meteor Man (and more crucially) Blade had already existed. Similarly, Shang-Chi as also marketed as “Shang-Chi is the first Asian superhero movie directed by an Asian-American with a predominately Asian cast in the MCU” because of course non-American movie studios have been making Asian superhero movies for quite a well. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745/60 "2021-09-21T09:53:32Z")
Should we now have a topic when people confidently claim something only for them to be immediately destroyed? We can throw that in with the other SMDB claim “Hollywood doesn’t make movies from wars America lost” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ummm-ackchyually-what-drives-people-to-nitpick-when-theyre-wrong/950745.md?page=4)