Pettifogging means " worrying too much about details that are minor or not important, "

Pettifogging意思是" 过于在意那些次要或重要的细节。

Men were strange: it would never have occurred to her that Walter was capable of such baseness, and yet you never knew; perhaps his seriousness was merely a mask for a mean and pettifogging nature.

奇：她会想到沃尔特会如此卑鄙，但你知道；也许他的严肃只是刻薄和吹毛求疵的本性的面具。