The word 'pettiness' is correct and can be used in written English.
It is used to describe behavior or attitude that is too concerned with trivial and unimportant matters. For example: "His pettiness was evident as he kept nitpicking at every small detail."
We see our useful academic scepticism too often slip into pettiness and prissiness and yes, negativity.
Pettiness is one of the (most enjoyable) hallmarks of your classic mother-daughter insult.
The mind boggles at the pettiness of some of the scores that might be settled in this tome, though it's worth bearing in mind that Simon Cowell recently claimed that he and Walsh will always be friends.
What gives the last game meaning is the chance for pettiness, if we can't have nice things then neither can you.
1. Stan Valchek v Frank Sobotka I know it only lasted one season, but this rates top for me because of the extreme pettiness and massive waste of personal energy and official resources.
To the outsider's eye these complaints tend to display a high degree of pettiness and conceit, as with the applicant for a medical job with the commission who argued that his non-hiring was explicable only by a prejudice on the commission's part against Swedish medical qualifications.
The earthquake, which in a couple of minutes killed almost half as many people as the insurgency in Kashmir has killed in 15 years, ought to be reminding both countries' rulers of the pettiness of their disputes.
He is "an extraordinary guy", "an intellectual leader", "a man of tremendous character", "a shining exception" to the pettiness of Washington.
At 30, she is the most prominent of many former exiles who are quietly transforming Jamaica's politics.Ms Morrison says one of her main advantages is that she "does not have a history", and so can transcend the often sterile, partisan pettiness that is one reason why turnout at Jamaican general elections has steadily declined.
But this line is hard to square with Ms Kadeer's descriptions of Chinese brutality, mendacity and pettiness".Dragon Fighter" was originally published in German in 2007.
Under the Kaczynskis, Poland was a laughing-stock, with a foreign policy marked by disorganisation, prickliness and pettiness.
