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

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".^[3]

References

^ New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2015. ISBN 9780199891535 – via Oxford Reference.
^ "pedantry". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
^ Butterfield, Jeremy, ed. (2015). Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191800979 – via Oxford Reference.

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[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] Butterfield, Jeremy, ed. (2015). Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191800979 – via Oxford Reference.

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+{{short description|Excessive showing of intellect}}
-{{wiktionary|pedant}}
+{{Redirect-distinguish|Pedant|Pendant}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}[[File:The Pedant by Thomas Rowlandson.jpg|thumb|240px|"The Pedant" by caricaturist [[Thomas Rowlandson]]]]
+'''Pedantry''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɛ|d|.|ə|n|.|t|ɹ|i}} {{Respell|PED|en|try}}) is an excessive concern with [[Formalism (philosophy)|formalism]], minor details, and rules that are not important.<ref>{{Cite book |title=New Oxford American Dictionary |date=2015 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199891535 |edition=3rd |via=Oxford Reference}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=pedantry |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pedantry |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref>
+''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".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English |date=2015 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191800979 |editor-last=Butterfield |editor-first=Jeremy |edition=3rd |via=Oxford Reference}}</ref>
-A '''pedant''' is a person who is overly concerned with [[formalism]] and [[precision]], or who 'makes a show of learning'. The corresponding (archaic) female [[noun]] is '''pedantess'''.
-==Etymology==
+== See also ==
-The [[English language]] word "pedant" comes from the [[French language|French]] ''pédant'' (used in 1566 in Darme & Hatzfeldster's ''Dictionnaire général de la langue française'') or its older mid-15th Century [[Italian language|Italian]] source ''pedante'', "teacher, schoolmaster". (Compare the Spanish ''pedante.'') The origin of the Italian ''pedante'' is uncertain, but multiple dictionaries suggest that it was contracted from the mediaeval [[Latin]] ''pædagogans,'' present [[participle]] of ''pædagogare'', "to act as pedagogue, to teach" ([[Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange|Du Cange]]).<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/61/ The American Heritage Dictionary]</ref> The Latin word is derived from Greek {{polytonic|παιδαγογός}}, {{polytonic|παιδ-}} "child" + {{polytonic|ἀγειν}} "to lead", which originally referred to a slave who escorted children to and from school but later meant "a source of instruction or guidance".<ref>{{
-    cite book|title=pedant, n. and adj. |work=The Oxford English Dictionary
-    |edition=Draft |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=Sept. 2008
-    |url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50173785
-}}</ref><ref>{{
-    cite web|last=Harper|first=Douglas
-    |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=pedant&searchmode=none
-    |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |title=pedant |date=2001
-}}</ref>
+* [[Perfectionism (psychology)]]
-== Negative connotation ==
+* [[Anti-intellectualism]]
-The term in English is typically used with a negative [[connotation]], indicating someone overly concerned with [[wikt:minutiae|minutiae]] and whose tone is perceived as [[Condescension|condescending]]. When it was first used by [[Shakespeare]] in ''Love's Labour's Lost'' (1588), it simply meant "teacher". Shortly afterward it began to be used negatively. [[Thomas Nashe]] wrote in ''Have with you to Saffron-walden'' (1596), page 43: "O, tis a precious apothegmaticall [terse] Pedant, who will finde matter inough to dilate a whole daye of the first inuention [invention] of Fy, fa, fum".
-== Usage of term ==
-Being referred to as a pedant, or pedantic, is generally considered insulting,<ref name=Dic>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedantic pedantic definition | Dictionary.com] Accessed on 2008-12-29</ref> along with terms such as "grammar Nazi".
-However some people take pride in being a pedant, especially with regard to the use of the English language.
-Pedantry can also be an indication of certain developmental disorders. In particular those with [[high-functioning autism]], often have behaviour characterized by pedantic speech.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070407104458/http://www.aspennj.org/guide.html Asperger's Syndrome: Guidelines for Assesment and Intervention<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-== Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder ==
-[[Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder]] is also in part characterized by a form of pedantry that is overly concerned with the correct following of rules, procedures and practices.<ref>[http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/information/mental-health-a-z/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/ Mental Health Foundation (UK)]</ref> Sometimes the rules that OCPD sufferers obsessively follow are of their own devising, or are corruptions or re-interpretations of the letter of actual rules.
-==Quotations==
-{{Copy section to Wikiquote}}
-*''"A Man who has been brought up among Books, and is able to talk of nothing else, is what we call a Pedant. But, methinks, we should enlarge the Title, and give it to every one that does not know how to think out of his Profession and particular way of Life."''—[[Joseph Addison]], Spectator 1711. [http://tabula.rutgers.edu/spectator/text/june1711/no105.html]
-*''"Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another."''—[[Desiderius Erasmus]] [http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/13076.htm]
-*''"The pedant is he who finds it impossible to read criticism of himself without immediately reaching for his pen and replying to the effect that the accusation is a gross insult to his person. He is, in effect, a man unable to laugh at himself."''—[[Sigmund Freud]], [[The Ego and the Id]].
-*''"The only other thing is that I am a pedant when it comes to written English and I would like to proof-read anything that can viewed outside the company."'' - Garty Vicksters
-*''"Servile and impertinent, shallow and pedantic, a bigot and [[wikt:sot|sot]]"''—[[Thomas Macaulay]], describing [[James Boswell]]
-*''"The term, then, is obviously a relative one: my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education and someone else’s ignorance."''—[[H. W. Fowler]], ''Modern English Usage''
-*''"Pedantic, I?"''—[[Alexei Sayle]]
-*''"If you're the kind of person who insists on this or that 'correct' use... abandon your pedantry as I did mine. Dive into the open flowing waters and leave the stagnant canals be... Above all, let there be pleasure!"''—[[Stephen Fry]]
 == References ==
-{{reflist}}
+{{reflist|2}}
-== See also ==
-*[[Prescription in language]]
-*[[Snob]]
 [[Category:Human behavior]]
 [[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
+{{socio-stub}}
-[[de:Pedanterie]]
-[[nn:Pedant]]
-[[pt:Pedante]]
-[[ru:Педантизм]]