When someone gets a 98% score and complains about it, what do you call them?
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An attention-seeker: drawing attention to how well they really did.– Weather VaneJun 17, 2020 at 14:33
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1Do you mean a perfectionist? Or are you implying that it's a "steal brag"?– PamJun 17, 2020 at 14:37
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Bragging is not what I had in mind, more like a perfectionist but with a pejorative connotation.– BlencerJun 17, 2020 at 14:40
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1Overachiever ??– chasly - supports MonicaJun 17, 2020 at 14:46
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2Does this answer your question? What would you call a person who focuses only on their faults?– Edwin AshworthJun 17, 2020 at 16:19
2 Answers
In American English this kind of person, one who is close to perfect but not quite and seeks those extra points, is called a
They are complaining in order to get those few extra points that, to everyone else, they don't really seem to need. It is a very light pejorative.
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Unless I'm mistaken, you can be a grade grubber even with a not so good score of 98%. And your goal is not necessarily 100%, you just want a better grade than your current one and try to convince your teacher about it.– BlencerJun 17, 2020 at 14:54
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I would call a person who scores 98% on a test and complains about it a Type A personality. From Wikipedia:
Type A and Type B personality hypothesis describes two contrasting personality types. In this hypothesis, personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and/or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed, less 'neurotic', 'frantic', 'explainable', personalities are labeled Type B.
The complaint arises mostly from a combination of (1) competitiveness, and (2) ambition with the high degree of organization required to achieve that ambition. While our someone may have scored 98%, members in her "peer group" may have scored higher. From her perspective, not good. Also, the ambition was to score 100%, not 98%. Not good enough.