12
May

Word of the Week: pettifogger

Picture picture

Picture picture

Last week’s WOW was hoise. Merriam-Webster online says that hoise is the same as hoist! So, why do we even have this word??? Apparently, it’s an older version of hoist. Someday I have a feeling hoise will be replaced by some abbreviation on FB or Instagram.

Today’s word is pettifogger. One reader (very near and dear to my heart) is saying, “Hallelujah!” She suggested that we make pettifogger a WOW a long, long time ago when she heard it in court. She is an attorney and someone referred to her as a pettifogger. Since she didn’t know the word, she wound up looking it up and sent me an email suggesting it should be on WOW. I didn’t know it, either, but since I pick out a long list of WOWs at one time, it took a little while to get it into the WOW line-up.

Oddly enough, a few days later, I watched the movie Lincoln and pettifogger was used in the movie! So, perhaps it’s a word we should all know! Here are my guesses for pettifogger:

pettifogger:  (ˈpe-tē-ˌf-gər, –ˌfä-) 1. a small fog machine 2. a person who blurs arguments by picking on small, irrelevant details 3. municipal spraying of neighborhoods to get rid of tiny mosquitoes.

What’s your guess for pettifogger? Submit your definition to put you in the running for a one-of-a-kind MIP t-shirt at the end of the year! Remember–creativity and accuracy count for points!

Wednesday’s Post: An Eclectic Bookshelf…

You might also like: Word of the Week: hoise; Word of the Week: orotund; Word of the Week: stichomythia; Word of the Week: styptic; and Word of the Week: pinchbeck

 

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2014 at 10:50 am and is filed under Word of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

comments

  1. May 12th, 2014 | Liesa says:

    My guess I has something to do with doing something under or below something else since it has “petti” like “petticoat.” That or something petty!

  2. May 12th, 2014 | maryann says:

    Your mom must be so proud of you. 😉

  3. May 12th, 2014 | The Original Pettifogger says:

    Oh no! I am conflicted out of the T-shirt contest! But happy to see the word made the cut!

  4. May 12th, 2014 | maryann says:

    LOL…guess the word for next week??? Thanks for the suggestion! –M.A.

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