Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today's Word "Pettifogger"



Pettifogger \PET-ee-fog-ur\ (noun) - 1 : A petty, unscrupulous lawyer; a shyster. 2 : A person who quibbles over trivia.

"A more respectable-looking individual was never seen; he really looked what he was, a gentleman of the law -- there was nothing of the pettifogger about him." -- George Borrow, 'Lavengro'

Pettifogger is probably from petty + obsolete fogger, "pettifogger."

No comments:

Post a Comment