hairsplitters

That is the type of zero-sum game we are fighting in the Middle East, where religious hairsplitters have been jockeying for the finish line since the world was formed.

Scott Thill: Count the Bodies, Crunch the Numbers 2008

Not all of these people are philosophical hairsplitters, either.

Gabriel Rotello: Will Smith, Hitler and the Holocaust's Unanswerable Question 2008

I know neither whether the fabled Bathroom Wall is functional again nor whether any bricks thereof are reserved for habitual hairsplitters, but if repairs there would relieve excesses here, let us all pray & sacrifice according to individual inclination that the appropriate deus ex machina manifests soon.

Report on the 2005 Creation Mega Conference, Part Three - The Panda's Thumb 2005

Mr. von Drehle seems vaguely resentful she wasn't dumb enough to fall for the spin cooked up by Mr. Kerry's hairsplitters and enthusiastically promoted by his media cheerleaders. linkI think the lesson to be learned is that when a politician says, "I believe this, that, or the other, but I'll not let my personal views interfere with my decision-making," we should immediately discount anything said afterwards.

From On High 2005

I recognize the marketing value of using the simple word "fun," but maybe a simple neologism would keep us hairsplitters from complaining.

But Seriously Folks 2005

The hairsplitters made thwock thwock thwock! noises at people charging into the room.

The Dragon Never Sleeps Cook, Glen 1988

Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams and the Olsen twins are all self-identified hairsplitters.

CNN.com 2011

As for the finner points of "First". that's up to hairsplitters of all kinds and internet bloggers

UUpdates - All updates 2008

Split the hairs all you want, hairsplitters – equivocators, the fact is the man has the disease, stem cell research may someday lead the way to therapies for the disease, and he’s well within his rights to appear on tv to talk about it, however the hell he wants to.

Think Progress » Matt Lauer on Michael J. Fox: 2006