Origin: Shakespeare used this expression in the 1600s in one of his plays and "splitting hairs" has been widely used since.
I know about 'split ends' from a girlie point of view, it's when you need to get your hairs cut. Too much product, heat styling, and wear-and-tear on your lovely locks can cause the ends to literally split. In the world of good hair, this is a bad thing.
In the world of marketing, I have come to believe that sometimes the worst part about being a marketer is werking with other marketers. We tend to split hairs with the best of them!
A Marketer is: marketer - someone who promotes or exchanges goods or services for money
In order to promote or sell something to someone, you've got make it appealing to people, give them a reason to want what they don't have (or have enough of). Some might call this putting 'spin' on your message, tailoring your pitch to your specific audience because you 'know their needs'.
The hard part about being a marketer and werking with other marketers is that you are constantly putting spin on things, trying to sell the other person on your idea or view point. Particularly when there is a difficult situation or political landscape to navigate, the splitting of hairs, word play, and use of semantics becomes quite a grey cloud of smoke.
Pet peeve of the day: asking for a concrete answer and getting a vague response (that is sure to bite you on the behind later, despite your most proactive efforts to seek clarity).
Sometimes I really miss a corporate culture that is direct, and doesn't take time to sugar coat or insulate things. Let's just get to the heart of the matter and figure things out. Diplomacy and tact are great skills, but I will always prefer a forthright co-werker.
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