Nitpicking and exoneration

I've grown more and more fastidious in my 'old' age.  Fastidious (though not in the sense of keeping clean), meticulous, demanding, exacting, fussy... some might find these apt adjectives to describe what is essentially obsessive nitpicking.  I get this a lot at home - "Stop nagging!".  But 'nagging' is not the word they mean because you nag a person to do something, and that's not what I do. (oh what a nitpicker I am!).  What I do is "harp".  I want things 'precisely so', whether it's how we put the forks in the cutlery tray, or how we understand the difference between "nagging"  and "harping" or a how we see a situation.  And though I'm aware of this evolution towards uncontrollable fussiness, I usually let myself give in  to it.  Why?  Because, after all is said and done, it's downright satisfying to know that I made my point thoroughly, or that "my way or the highway", as my sons refer to it, is actually the right way! (and not in the political sense, but rather as in the opposite of wrong).  This doesn't mean I am always right - on the contrary, and I welcome it when someone's way of doing things or definition of a term, or attitude toward a situation is more on the target than mine.  It's a relief, because ultimately, what it means is that a battle to the depths of oblivion has been mercifully avoided!
But let me begin to tie the ends together because there is a point to all of this. You see, yesterday, my nitpicking-ness veered off to the outrageous  - leading me to laugh at myself and my obsession, and turning it all into blog material in my mind.  Nitpicker that I am, I want to get it all down in words, but at the same time, I'm hoping to be exonerated, not that I'm actually guilty of anything... but just because I feel like I am. 
The word in question was 'reponer' (Spanish for... well, you'll see).  So there I was, hurrying out of the building to get to my next class in another building 10 minutes away from where I was, and as I shot down the hall, two teachers (not native English-speakers) standing in the doorway of one of the classrooms, beckoned to me to clear up a doubt they had.  They asked me if there was such a word as 'reposition'.  I hemmed and hawed for a moment (I had to come back from the inside of my own head where I was deep in dialog with myself about other issues) and then said, "Yes, of course: to reposition."  "What does it mean?"  "Reposition - to put in another position."  "Ah yes... okay, so would that work for 'reponer'?"  "Hmmm... well reponer, hmmm...you mean maybe replenish?"  "Replenish?"  "yes, like to replenish an amount".... (time was ticking, but they didn't look convinced, and the truth was, neither was I!)... I started backing away, still trying to come up with a better alternative, then turned back and called (by this time I was a few feet away from them) "or replace!"   "Oh, yeah, replace," they cried jubilantly.  "Yeah that's it!  Thanks!"   And I went on my way feeling relieved that I'd found the word.... but then, wait!  Was that really the word?  I mean it could have been 'make up'... like when you have to make up your hours at work after you've been absent...  at that point, I realized that I was nitpicking - surely they couldn't care less by now, having gotten the word they wanted.  Why couldn't I drop it?  But in my mind, it went on and on... It went like this:
Me talking to Other Person whose native language is not English:
me:  .... so I mean, it could be 'make up', or 'put back'...?
O.P. - well, but replace sounds...
me:    I mean, I'm sorry to be such a nitpicker, but... I mean, do you know what a nitpicker is?
O.P.: -very picky?
me:    well yes, but I mean the expression...  do you know what a nit is?
O.P.:  not really
me:  well it's the egg of a louse.  Do you know what a louse is?
O.P. : yeah, like: What a louse!  Like, that's a lousy excuse...
me:    yeah, but no, I mean the real meaning of the word - which is singular for lice...
O.P. : oh really?  I thought it was lice/lices
 me:   no, it's louse/lice... so, can you see the allusion?
O.P. : I'm not sure... someone who picks the nits out of their hair?

me:  right, but think how tiny nits are... I mean if you were trying to pick the nits out, it would take forever,      and it would be really tedious... pretty useless, actually, considering the lice would continue hatching eggs.

O.P.:  oh, so it would be pretty gross, and it might make you cross-eyed or give you a headache.

me:  yes, that too, but I mean in a figurative sense... can't you see it?  I mean look how I'm just going on and on with this explanation, trying to get you to understand all the little details... 

O.P.  - Oh, now I get it!... HAHAHAHA, and you're right.  You really are a nitpicker!