Don't worry about, or apologize for, being pedantic. I rather enjoy it. While I appreciate your point about the literal meanings of the words "introvert" and "

Don't worry about, or apologize for, being pedantic. I rather enjoy it. While I appreciate your point about the literal meanings of the words "introvert" and "extrovert," I would submit that the axis around which both personality types hinge is not so much approval-seeking in specific, but rather, stimulus-seeking in general. Hence, my point about introverts needing or seeking less social stimulus, and extroverts needing and/or seeking more social stimulus. In the case you cite: "You can be a very social person and have tons of friends etc etc but at the end of the day if you are not too affected by other's opinions about you then you are an introvert." This is not wholly correct. Introverts can be affected by others' opinions, and indeed, some are very affected. I do agree, however, that it is entirely possible for an introvert to be sociable and to have a lot of friends. Conversely, it is entirely possible to find extroverts who lack social graces and thus, can count few friends. On the whole, however, I believe you and I are more in agreement than disagreement. I think we could both agree that the words have been twisted and overused demotically. And perhaps we'd also agree, as I believe, that the division into the world of "introverts" and "extroverts" as binary personality types represents a somewhat primitive and unsophisticated view of things -- regardless of how we choose to define those words.