Someone who diverts attention from the
core point in an argument by taking offence or paying excessive attention to the individual words used.
It's similar to the strawman fallacy.
This tactic is quite effective in that the person making the original point becomes distracted and usually
ends up forgetting or relinquishing their
core argument because they end up addressing the wordworm's objections.
Protagonist:, I think you need to
understand why I'm feeling a little upset about (insert issue here). Can you allow me to explain?
Wordyworm: What? you're saying I'm stupid? That I
don't
understand?