Neat vs. Sloppy

The words neat and tidy are both adjectives. Adjectives are descriptive words that are used to describe a situation, place or a person. According to the online Cambridge dictionary, the word ‘neat’ refers to someone who is tidy, one who strives to ensure that everything is where it’s supposed to be. It is often used in conversations to express ones appreciation of another’s personal or environmental tidiness.
Sloppy is often used in American English to imply that someone is messy or lacks care and/or attention. Across the Atlantic, the British use the word while describing a material that is liquid, when found to be more liquid than it normally should be, making it unpleasant or simply put, too wet (Cambridge Dictionaries Online).
I probably should start by saying that I am a neat person. While growing up, I was admired and commended by older people, especially the parents to my friends and I would be the reason they would get scolded for not being tidy. This made me feel really proud of myself thanks to the constant adoration I got. Neat people have been described in some quarters as lazy, stingy, unfeeling, insensitive and trivial. These are mere personal opinions of the claimants and should be taken as such since each one of us is entitled to their own opinion.
At some level I agree with these observations. Neat people would rather avoid messy and dirty chores or jobs and therefore tend to work really hard in schools so as to end up in tidy, nice working environments. Granted, most people would appreciate such terms of reference, though we must point out that there are those who wouldn’t mind taking on a dirty job no matter what the pay might be. A segment of the populace that is considered sloppy also happens to be lazy. They are unbothered by clutter and do not mind skipping a shower/bath or two as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.
The claim that neat people care about nothing else apart from their neatness is as erroneous as it ridiculous. Some of the...