Quote Originally Posted by Medved View Post
iCake she says the word knit sounds very similar to the word ныть
I would have suggested that the word "nit" would have also worked as a mnemonic device for ныть! ("nit" = гнид -- the egg of a вошь, "louse")

Because "to pick nits" (literally искать и снимать гнидов) can colloquially mean ныть о неважных недостатках/пороках ("to whine about unimportant flaws/defects").

Not that I've ever been guilty of that...

P.S. I'm pretty sure that придираться/придраться can generally work as a Russian translation for "to nitpick" (and also to translate Yiddish kvetch, which has been widely popularized in US English by generations of Jewish comedians). So in certain contexts, хватит придираться could mean "quit bitchin!" At least if you're talking about kvetchy, nitpicky forms of bitching...