Gleaned from googlism.com:
nitpicking is the foundation of modern psychiatry
…Dale?
I don’t know if this is really a nitpick, but it grates & chafes when people ask for help without giving enough detail of the scenario, item, whatever.
I’m a telephone medical advice nurse. This guy called today and said he had a headache. He added, “To be more specific, it’s located where my skull is.” Fortunately, I’ve had coursed in anatomy, so I could discern something was going on above the neck.
Tony
Drivers with a car full of kids whose remedy for a tailgater is to slam on the brakes.
I do not do this. However, when tailgated I ALWAYS respond by setting my speed to EXACTLY the speed limit. No more, no less. Of course, this means I enrage the tailgater by my offense of not speeding. Sooner or later, it will get me killed in a road rage episode. But, I persist in this dangerous behavior because, my friends, I am born to be wild.
Dale[/quote]
I move over so the guy can hurry on home and choke someone else.[/quote]
Strange but I never have this problem, may be its due to the smallet thing I drive weighing around 2 tons 
Being a reference librarian, I get misuse, improper use of nouns, verbs, etc. all the time. But the word that that always gets me is FILIM(S) as in “you have any filims!”
Answering the telephone at the reference desk, we always introduce ourselves at the desk:
“Good morning, reference desk, Mark speaking, Can I help you.”
The person at the other end will state “I don’t know if I called the right number or not and I don’t know if you can help me, but I have a question concerning uh -a - ummm - a - of something that you may not know of ------- anyway can you help me.”
I sit and listen very patiently while this one sided dialogue is going on, and on and on - and it happens quite a few times every shift. And my friends wonder why I hate to answer the phone at home on talk for on one for any length of time.
Just two of my nits!
OH! The word “veHICle” I know that in many places in North America there are HICS in vehicles.
“Pronunciation: Because the primary stress in vehicle is on the first syllable, the (h) in the second syllable tends to disappear.” Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd Edition.
MarkB
I guess you have not never lived in the South…
I learned from my sister, a professional driver, that the best way to deal with tailgaters is to turn my windshield washer on, and set the wipers on their highest speed. When moving at 60MPH [100KPH] this throws washer fluid over the car onto the tailgating driver’s vehicle.
The best part is that you can just pretend your windshield needed cleaning, and look innocent and puzzled when the enraged tailgater zooms around you.
Is this passive-aggressive behavior? 
-Jonathan-
If it is, it’s mitigated by giving free washer fluid to the tailgater. Everyone wins.
Ah, Jumper, you got me!
Nitpick: Dale’s driving could be considered passive-aggressive, and the washer fluid thing is a veiled something else…throwing things at people isn’t exactly passive, other than harnessing velocity to extend the range.
I’ve done the P-A thing many a time; I like the idea of casting noxious fluids, too. There’s something primal and insect-like about it. I’ll have opportunities aplenty to give it a try.
If you really want to take a drive on the wild side, there’s a variation on this tactic that works a treat. Begin by slowing down to the speed limit. Then, very gradully, slow down even more. Slow down until you are almost stationary if that’s what it takes.
Yes, I know it’s dangerous. Whatever you do in response to tailgating is dangerous both in terms of the accident risk and the risk of becoming a victim of road rage. Actually, the tactic of slamming on the brakes isn’t as dangerous to those in the car of the driver who does it as is commonly thought; well, not if it is done properly. (Remember, whatever you do is risky.) To minimise risk, accelerate suddenly before braking and immediately after braking. I don’t however recommend this. It’s very dangerous to innocent oncoming drivers who might suddenly find themselves confronted by a vehicle skidding into their path.
My Irish friends (several of them) all say “filims” - and it was the first time I had ever heard that word pronounced that way - I just thought it was an Irish thing…I found it kind of charming, actually.
Living near that fine, flat state, I am sick of hearing it pronounced “Illinoise”. I’ve heard people from both sides of the border prounce it that way. Very annoying.
Beth
I’m normally a conservative driver, which means (in these parts) that I drive about 10 mph over the speed limit when road conditions are good. I don’t like the inherent danger of tapping the brakes to discourage tailgaters - they might actually run into you. What I usually do is flick on the hazard lights. It gives the same effect as the brake lights from the rear. Nine times out of ten, the person backs off. The tenth time, I wait for a good place to pull over and let them pass. I enjoy life too much to make a contest out of driving.
As far as nit-picking, I’m not so bad. I’m more of a pet-peeve guy than a nit-picker.
That’s a nice idea Jim but I still think it’s dangerous because a hard-breaking vehicle still might skid into oncoming traffic or another lane. It certainly takes a lot less skill and timing than the accelerate-break-accelerate manoeuvre so is clearly perferable to that.
I think the reason tailgating is so infuriating is that wahtever you do in response is unsafe.
If it’s feasible (after weighing such factors as traffic density, number of lanes, etc.), I set the cruise control. Gotta have it. Even at 5-10mph (what’s that in kmh?) above posted speeds, there’s always a tailgater at some point. They tend to back off or finally pass me (which is an option that is usually long available to them anyway). All I have to do is keep my eyes open. It’s a more serene drive for me that way.
Otherwise, I’m all about getting away from those jockeying clusters of motorists who seem to have a herding mentality and forget that they’re zooming along at high speeds in a ton of jagged glass and steel.
Good point. I find I’m rarely tailgated these days. I don’t drive very fast. I’ve no idea how I manage to keep out of trouble except that I’m on the lookout for aggressive drivers and try to stay out of their way. Trouble is, if somebody asks my how I manage this, I can’t explain. I simply don’t know.
Unrelated to the driving discussion, but pertinent to the nit-picky one:
Why does everyone think “you and I” always sounds better than “you and me”? They’ll say something like, “She is going with you and I,” thinking it sounds more sophisticated (I guess that’s what they think, I don’t know), but it’s incorrect. It should be “She is going with you and me.” AIEEEEE!!
Also, why do people want to use an apostrophe for a plural, as in “kitten’s free to good home.” It’s just “kittens” because it’s not a possessive.
I know, it’s sick–I have a Victorian English teacher living in my head. It’s not a big deal in conversation or in informal situations, but it bothers me when I see these things in print, where they supposedly have editors that catch this stuff.
Well, I’m with you cj. Particularly the apostrophes (apostrophe’s). I’m on a banjo list and people are always talking about different kinds of banjo’s. Once a person even wrote in “thank’s”. My hypothesis is that people tend to use it with nouns which end in a vowel. I have seeen bouzouki’s written as a plural but never mandolin’s. But it happens with banjo’s all the ^%$*(&^ time.
Another, which I have seen on C&F several times is that someone says their interest was peaked.
Not to nitpick or anything but a lot of this thread seems like it’s on pet peeves rather than nitpicking. Particularly since Mark referred us to a web page with a rather odd definition of nitpicks.
Steve
That apostrophe error is bad on mailboxes too. The sign on one will say, “The Smith’s” when it should just say, “The Smiths,” or "The Jones’ " when it should say, “The Joneses.” I even saw this on a sign in the yard of a couple I knew who once were both retired teachers!
Don’t get me started on its/it’s errors . . .
You’re right–this has ended up being about pet peeves, but I guess we’re nitpicking about grammar, so we qualify, right?!
I must have been a schoolmarm in my past life . . .
Shouldn’t that be schoolma’am? Short for madam? Maybe not, if you’re in America.
“Schoolmarm” is an American expression, not sure where it came from.
Random House Dikshunary gives this defining steakment:
Schoolmarm: Older Use. a female schoolteacher, esp. of the old-tyme country type, popularly held to be strict and priggish.
MarkB