| 词组 | pernickety, persnickety |
| 释义 | pernickety, persnickety When a correspondent in 1986 wants to know whether pernickety or persnickety is the preferred form of the word, you know you are hearing from someone with a long memory. From the mid-1940s to about 1961 a dispute about the propriety of persnickety was waged fitfully in the pages of newspapers and weekly newsmagazines. The controversy seems to have had its origin in Webster's Second 1934. That book was the first Merriam-Webster to recognize the version with -s-, but it tucked the spelling away in the pearl section at the foot of the page—several pages away from pernickety. Apparently some of the objectors to persnickety failed to look closely at the pearl section and assumed that the -s-spelling was not to be found in the dictionary. Pernickety was introduced into English by Scottish writers in the early 19th century. Persnickety is an Americanism, first attested in the early 20th century. It soon reached the public prints: • This detachment caused him to be looked upon as slightly finicky, not to say persnickety —American Mercury, August 1926 • ... the second act... should take one into Florence's persnickety home —New Yorker, 18 Dec. 1926 • ... The Atchison Globe ... thumbed a persnickety snoot at Emporia —Emporia (Kans.) Gazette, 10 May 1927 In recent use, persnickety is more common than pernickety in the United States; pernickety does have some American use, and it is the only form used in British English. • An order of double lamb chops cooked medium-rare and served with a hot mint sauce pleased a persnickety guest —Caroline Bates, Gourmet, January 1979 • ... the iron deficient housewife and the persnickety feline —William Bayer & Ann Bayer, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 26 Sept. 1976 • His writing, nevertheless, is greatly to be preferred to that of many people who are more pernickety in these matters —C. B. A. Behrens, N.Y. Rev. of Books, 3 Dec. 1970 • Pheasants have a reputation for being pernickety — David Stephen, Scottish Field, October 1973 • He made a point of being pernickety: he always used to say that dinner was to be at 8.14, while lunch must be at 1.11 —Sacheverell Sitwell, quoted in The Listener, 13 Dec. 1973 You can use whichever spelling you prefer. |
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