Niggifiddles

Lord Kadizzle is not a niggifiddle, but he is amazed to see one. What is a niggifiddle? Niggifidles are people obsessed with details that just don't matter.  Niggifiddles get so bogged down in details they cannot get anything done.  Engineering is a profession plagued by niggifiddles.  A typical engineer will get so caught up in details he can never get anything done.  The niggifiddle will ponder for so long which way to shovel the snow, that the snow melts before he decides to shovel from the north or the south.

The other day Kadizzle was working with a niggifiddle installing a pump. It was a simple job that could be done in about an hour.  Hook up the pump, plug it in, turn it on.  Nope, not with a niggifiddle.  After taking the pump out of the box the niggifiddle spent 3o minute writing in the pump manual every marking on the pump.  Although the niggi had installed hundreds of pumps in his life he insisted on reading every detail of the instructions.  The pump never got installed that day.

Another niggifiddle was trying to pack his boat for a trip.  On his work bench were two rows of papers with list laid out.  Each page was perfectly parallel with the others.  Neat little list, some with check marks were carefully prepared.  Should we take salt, should it be in a shaker, in a box, how much salt should we take.  Maybe we should take half a cup of salt. How will will measure to make sure we have a half a cup. Why does it need to be half a cup? Maybe we could do with less. How much less? Maybe I should check the internet and see how much salt a person needs in a week.  What if we go an extra day, maybe I should take a little more than a half a cup? How will I keep the salt dry? Should I use sea salt.  Now what about the pepper?