Pedantry

"Pedant" redirects here. Not to be confused with Pendant.

"The Pedant" by caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson

Pedantry (/ˈpɛd.ən.tri/ PED-en-try) is an excessive concern with formalism, minor details, and rules that are not important.[1][2]

Etymology

Pedantry is the adjective form of the 1580s English word pedant, which meant a male schoolteacher at the time.[3] The word pedant originated from the French word for "schoolmaster," pédant, in the 1560s, or from the Italian word for "teacher, schoolmaster," pedante. Both of these words are likely an alteration of Late Latin word "paedagogantem", meaning a "person who trumpets minor points of learning, one who overrates learning or lays undue stress on exact knowledge of details...as compared with large matters or general principles."[4] In ancient Greece, a paedagogus was a slave entrusted with teaching young Roman boys.

Analysis

Notably, the distinction between pedantry and perfectionism is that pedantry typically focuses on highlighting trivial, unimportant details of others and is associated with the desire for attention or superiority, whereas, perfectionism typically focuses on oneself and with the desire of success and achievement. Therefore, pedantry is typically associated with more of an annoyance and ill-mannered, whereas perfectionism is associated more positively.^[citation needed] Ultimately, pedantry could be viewed as an attempt to show superiority by appearing more intelligent, through tasks as simple as correcting a peer's grammar online.[5] In modern times, pedantry is also often used as an intentional tactic or unintentional act which distracts from larger issues by focusing on minor details instead.^[citation needed] For instance, a pedant might dismiss or invalidate a comprehensive, logical argument due to a few minor grammatical errors.

Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (1926) recognised that the term pedantry was "relative" and subjective, stating "my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else’s ignorance".[6]

See also

• Perfectionism (psychology)
• Anti-intellectualism

References

1. New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2015. ISBN 9780199891535 – via Oxford Reference.
2. "pedantry". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
3. "Word of the Day: Pedantic". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
4. "pedantic | Etymology of pedantic by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
5. Steele, David (30 May 2017). "Why do pedants pedant?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
6. Butterfield, Jeremy, ed. (2015). Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191800979 – via Oxford Reference.