Fusspots

[Alan]

Hi,

This is a wonderful word aptly describing someone who can't bear any irregularities like for example a picture just slightly askew on the wall, the knife and fork on the dining room table being slightly out of line and insisting on people saying: 'It is I' and not what the rest of us do and say: It's me'. Do you know what I mean? Many years ago I managed to secure an interview with a very illustrious BBC radio producer as I had an idea for a new comedy series. He asked me about the main character and what sort of person he was. I launched into my description about how he loved order and correctness, about the immaculate way he dressed and as I warmed to the topic, I described the way his desk was laid out with every pen and pencil in place in rows, the blotter dead central on the desk and for a moment I looked down and saw the very replica of what I was describing before my very eyes. The producer smiled graciously as I wilted and stopped talking. 'Quite a good idea' he said, 'but I can't quite believe in your main character.'

Would you describe yourself as a fusspot?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Yankee]

.
Sounds like someone is in the throes of denial.
If you really want to help yourself, you will have to turn the TV back on and then take care of some very obvious and basic business. ;)
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[MrPedantic]

Your obsessive reminds me of the central character in "Ever Decreasing Circles", a popular British sitcom of the 80s. Perhaps the idea was better suited to television than to radio.

MrP

[Molly]

Would you class Howard Hughes as a fusspot, Alan?

[Torsten]

[Molly]

Haven't you used seen it that way before, Torsten?

[Torsten]

Sometimes a dictionary can do wonders. Just checked one and found the answer to my question. Many thanks for your great support and guidance, Molly!

TOEFL listening lectures: Why do the Lascaux cave paintings probably not qualify as graffiti?

[Molly]

Did you take your pill today, T?

[MrPedantic]

It's probably not a very common usage, Torsten – the absence of a following noun could be momentarily disconcerting in spoken English, for instance.

MrP

[Molly]

I've heard it used quite often in introductory clauses such as this "Take your obsessive, for example".

[MrPedantic]

I doubt that very much. It sounds like a purely fictive fragment to me.

MrP

[Molly]