more on being a nit-picker

[gusl]

To further reinforce my self-image, yesterday, one of the top students in the graduate machine learning class told me: "it's always like this: first I understand something, then I go talk to you, then I realize that I really don't understand it."

I do take some pride in this. Especially when I catch a professor going off the rails, which I think happened 3 times with my favourite prof within the last month.

I think this cognitive style is related to the same detail-orientedness that makes me a good proof-reader. Call it missing the forest for the trees, if you want. One could also view this as intellectual paranoia/self-defense. I prefer to view it positively, as independence and non-conformity.

Of course, I'm far from a formalist when expressing my own intuitions, and I can get annoyed at nitpicking ant-fuckers like myself.

I wonder if my trait could be partly explained by my intuitions and what I consider obvious being very different from most people... with the result that I feel the need for formal precision, as a way of resolving disagreements.

Comments

[widdertwin.livejournal.com]

"Ant-fucker" is quite a vivid turn of phrase. I also like the Danish equivalent, "flueknepper". It literally means "fly fucker", but isn't quite as offensive as it seems in English.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

Cool, so we've now identified a pattern in Germanic insect-fucking metaphors.

"neuken" isn't quite inoffensive (as "vrijen" would be), but it's not super offensive either.