Question

Split Hairs to argue about small, unimportant differences

Accepted Answer

Aaron and his sister are always splitting hairs. He said there were forty-seven explosions in the movie; she said forty-six. William Shakespeare used an expression similar to this in about 1600 in one of his plays, and "splitting hairs" has been widely used since the late 1600s. When the saying originated, it was thought to be impossible to split anything as fine as a hair.

Idiom	Split Hairs
Example	Aaron and his sister are always splitting hairs. He said there were forty-seven explosions in the movie; she said forty-six.
Meaning	to argue about small, unimportant differences
Origin	William Shakespeare used an expression similar to this in about 1600 in one of his plays, and "splitting hairs" has been widely used since the late 1600s. When the saying originated, it was thought to be impossible to split anything as fine as a hair.

Split Hairs Aaron Sister Splitting Forty Seven Explosions Movie