that now i can begin to expect some colorful language from you!

Quisling is another eight-letter word.

And so is a solution proposed by another board member who is currently silent on this subject: yes woman.

We're doing SUPA DUPA on eight-letter solutions, huh?

Brilliant regards,
Word-Short-by-One

Quisling is, in fact, the eight-letter antonym for what we seek.

Egad!!!

Will this JessCC ever come back and tell us the answer his/her teacher/boss/prof wanted?

This kinda thing drives me nuts,
WordWacky

Welcome to you, JessCC.

Oh, what a great link, Aunt mav! (grr, Helen! ) Here's a sample--with a warning that this site is not for the easily offended:

The Mystery of the Rotating Londoners.
If you are visiting London and you listen to East Enders, particularly the women, talking about conversations that they have had, you will soon notice that, according to them, the people they talk to are constantly rotating. A typical account is:
" So 'e turns around and says 'ere what's your game? I turned round and told him to mind his own bleeding business and he turns round and says "Don't you come the old tin man with me, my girl" So I turn round and tell him where to get off" So much of this turning round goes on that it is likely that conversations have to be prematurely terminated owing to dizziness. Obviously, such exchanges would be very spectacular to behold and would closely rival ballet for the amount of revolving that goes on. Sadly, I have travelled extensively round London over the last few years and have yet to observe any excessive rotation taking place anywhere.

well, I know this site is a complete cheat, but it does have its uses! You just fill in the letters you have, with fullstops for the blanks and it comes back with all the options - ideal for that last clue you really can't get your head round!

http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~bryn/HTML/Crosswords.html
(hope that's not too long - if it is, apologies, let me know and I'll edit)

FWIW my personal vote would go with 'jobsworth'.

jobsworth Noun. A person who is very pedantic at work and strictly adheres to the rules; named after the oft heard, "I can't let you do that, it's more than my jobs worth." Derog.

Jobsworth could be the word good old JessCC is looking for there in Malaysia. Jess, I sure hope you'll let us know whether jobsworth was the word in question, puh-lease!

However, I found jobsworth in only one reference on OneLook--and it was in a listing of British terms of slang.

Mebbe there isn't a 9-letter word in general reference lexicons that means what myridon means. 'Course we could always start dropping jobsworth everywhere we can think of and try to institute it into the language in other-than-British nations. Jobsworth. Looks good.

Best regards,
Wadswrath

Incidentally, a utility is available for download from PC Magazine called -- something like -- Crossword Solver. No, I haven't tried it. But there it is, like a primrose by the cobbles.

Dear Miss Worthywords ,

Yes woman, QUISLING, like YES WOMAN, has only eight (count 'em) letters. It seems that Quisling himself, was just one man.

The people who exhibit his unsavory behavioral traits, (count 'em) -their numbers are legion. That is, more than one, so QUISLINGS has (count 'em) nine letters.

Your Fan Forever,

//Milum.\\

PS: WW, You may be smarter than me , but when you wrestle The Milo, you wrestle a greased pig without scruples .

QUISLINGS has (count 'em) nine letters

But it is PLURAL and the word that JessCC is looking for is singular.

somepone who always obeys the rules of his/her job exactly, even when it would be more sensible not to, is called a ________ (9 letters)

Can anyone help me? Thanks!-jessCC

...ssssh, faldage. At your age don't you know that it is not enough to have a brain, you must have a heart as well.

Look at jessCC' s message in blue, can't you see that it is a desperate plea for help. jessCC has already confessed that he wasn't well versed in the english language.

For goodness sake faldage, please follow my lead and help him properly frame the question, so the answer we give is the right one.

//Milum\\

Dear Milo,

You wrote (hmmmm, which color to choose?):
[hot pink]PS: WW, You may be smarter than me , but when you wrestle The Milo, you wrestle a greased pig without scruples . [/hot pink]

Me no smarter than inniebuddy here. Me jes' able mos' uv dee time to reckon words on me fingers! Meseff offered factotum ...and dat's jes' gots eight. Dunno dee plural--factotums or factoti! And factoti's movin' in dee wrong deerection!

Still hopin' dat Jess'll come back and tell us wuzz whut!

Bes' reckonin',
Wurdwreckuh

Dunno dee plural--factotums or factoti!

Da plural a factotum'z factota

The crossword got it wrong. somepone who always obeys the rules of his/her job exactly, even when it would be more sensible not to, is called a MANAGER. And manager only has SEVEN letters.

no fair CK--you have managers who actually know their job? and you're being snide? my current manager doesn't even know the rules of the job, let alone follow them!

he is an IT manager, and since he is in charge, students for my classes are using piece of paper, passed round the office to sign up for classes, instead of the electronic DB, that works with a push of a button!

i have to take the piles of papers, and type in the names -- the db is set up to capture the users email name, if i pushed the button, so i can only register my self electronicly.

we then use the email info to send reminders to the students-- well, the server is programed to do it, not me.. but it only works if the info is entered correctly, i.e., by the student pushing the button!

CK, there seems to be a conflict between your post and your title-line:

The word "lawyer" would be perfect exemplar of your "Woe to ye nit-pickers," but is completely inconsistent with someone who always obeys the rules exactly".

It's me, Jess! First of all, I would like to thank ALL of you for the abundance of information and help. I am practically astounded by the replies! Second of all, (just a side note) I'm a SHE, not a HE! Thirdly, I will only be able to give the correct answer next week because that is when I will be able to get it and I honestly don't know the answer! I'm trying to find it too.

I've practically narrowed it down to :
Automaton - although it doesn't fit in the sentence, it makes a bit of sense to the definition I posted
Jobsworth - even though it is a slang, it COULD be it
Sycophant/toadeater - but it might be taken off the list because it states that a sycophant/toadeater(toady) is "someone who does things for personal gain, flattery" and the definition didn't state that

I promise to give you the answers as soon as I get it, just remember that I can't be on the internet everyday.

Jess

p.s Oh, before I forget, what is your pick? I'll take the majority, then, unless someone comes up with an even better word!

Too bad bureaucrat has too many letters. I like jobsworth.

Dear Jess,

I am eternally grateful to you for reappearing! This is the kind of puzzle that keeps me returning to it forever--just wanting to know the answer. Not that there's really one correct answer--just the one your test maker has decided should be the answer. I really like tsuwm's myrmidon the best (thought a letter short), but toadeater is terrific, even if archaic.

I don't like jobsworth just because I think it's an ugly-sounding word--and not in an interesting way. Toadeater is an ugly word to consider--but, oh, what fun! So that's the 9-letter one I wish we were still using to describe such myrmidons and myrmidonnas!

Thanks a lot for returning in a little while to let us know which result was hoped for on your test.

Best regards,
WordWarteater ribbet-riveted

"Jobsworth" sounds like an excellent answer, probably better than the word that first occurred to me given the definition and its length of nine letters: "asskisser." It's not strictly correct, but probably it is what such a person would be labelled by his or her coworkers.

maverick: that link you posted to the Modern UK idiom was so funny it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so very much! It's only 9:00 AM and you made my day.

retentive

IP - This made my day!

CapK - Just how distant is "yonks ago"?

Here's some synonyms we've discussed and at least one new one. The more I think about it, the more I think sycophant may be the word Jess will reveal to us:

[brown]or Entry Word: sycophant
Function: noun
Text: a base or servilely attentive flatterer and self-seeker <sycophants who slavishly curried favor with the king>
Synonyms apple-polisher, bootlick, bootlicker, ||brownnose, ||brownnoser, ||clawback, creature, ||easy rider, footlicker, groveler, lickspit, lickspittle, minion, reptile, spaniel, ||suck, toad, toadeater, toadier, toady, truckler, yes-man; PARASITE
Related Word flunky, gopher, lackey, slave, stooge; flatterer, self-seeker; snob, tuft-hunter [/brown] or

The above is from MW's synonym finder.

Bootlicking regards,
Wordwooing Ain't tuft-hunter grand?

the worthless word for the day (at some point in the indeterminate past was): tufthunter

someone that seeks association with persons of
title or high social status: snob; a toady [Brit]

from tuft, a gold tassel formerly worn by titled
undergraduates at Cambridge and Oxford

http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/

(just pluggin' away)

Just moving this up so JessCC might see it and tell us what her teacher wanted her to find...

yeahbut® even if you don't like the sound of it, I'm still betting on jobsworth, since like most good quizes the answer lies within the text of the clue :)

Dear maverick,

It's probably going to be jobsworth because Jess lives in Malaysia and this teacher is probably grounded in a British education....jobsworth's being British slang.

Still don't like the word jobsworth--and, if archaic words were ok, toadeater would still be my favorite, but, since they're not, sycophant would be the word I'd use in formal writing.

Best muleheadedness,
WordWon't

sure, but it carries little of the same meaning. The particular flourish of jobsworth is to suggest someone who is not sycophantic to a person but to an institution - that they have so far lost their sense of scale and human values they rather elevate the job byond the worth it serves.

Hence a popular UK TV show years back had a regular Jobsworth Award, which (iirc) mainly consisted of a massively braided cap, an ornate uniform, etc to denote someone who prizes the uniform above the task, the rules above the game...

in short, in the words of the original question "someone who always obeys the rules of his/her job exactly, even when it would be more sensible not to..."

Dear maverick,

Point very well taken! You've now won me over with no argument to jobsworth. (Institution of the job over argument of person of the boss...makes perfectly good sense for the solution...)

How sweet is peace!

Wordwind

How sweet is peace

Peace and Honesty - fine plants in any garden!

Point very well taken! ... How sweet is peace!

I've just witnessed a bee-uuu-tiful moment, here... Thank you both!