pettifogger

English

WOTD – 31 July 2007

Etymology

petty + fogger

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛtɪˌfɑːɡɚ/, /ˈpɛtɪˌfɔːɡɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɡə(ɹ)

Noun

pettifogger (plural pettifoggers)

1. Someone who quibbles over trivia, and raises petty, annoying objections and sophistry.
   • 1809, Washington Irving, chapter 39, in Knickerbocker's History of New York:

     Hence the cunning measure of appointing as ambassador some political pettifogger skilled in delays, sophisms, and misapprehensions, and dexterous in the art of baffling argument.

2. An unscrupulous or unethical lawyer, especially one of lesser skill.

   Synonym: shyster

   • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 11, in The Fortunes of Nigel:

     "An inn, or a tavern . . . these are places where greasy citizens take pipe and pot, where the knavish pettifoggers of the law spunge on their most unhappy victims.

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 257:

     This gentleman (for such he was, however strange ladies who class country attorneys with vulgar pettifoggers in fashionable novels may deem the assertion) was the son of a brave officer,...

   • 1885, The Bay State Monthly, volume 3, number 6:

     . . .yet he has never sought by browbeating and other arts of the pettifogger, to confuse, baffle, and bewilder a witness. . . .

   • 1926 June 28, “National Affairs: Blind Mans Huff”, in Time:

     "Donald Hughes, well known in Minneapolis as a conscienceless shyster, was placed in charge of the case. . . . Mr. Edgerton, a high class, reputable lawyer, was called in of counsel from another city to lend respectability to the crooked, unprincipled, blackmailing pettifogger, Hughes."

Synonyms

• (someone who quibbles): nitpicker

Related terms

• pettifog
• pettifoggery

Translations

Someone who quibbles

• Bulgarian: буквояд m (bukvojad), педант (bg) m (pedant)
• Danish: ordkløver (da) c
• Dutch: muggenzifter (nl) m, mierenneuker (nl) m
• Finnish: pilkunviilaaja
• German: Haarspalter m, Erbsenzähler (de) m, Wortklauber (de) m, Kleingeist (de) m
• Latin: lēgulēius m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ordkløyver m

• Polish: kłótnik (pl) m, kłótnica f, przechera (pl) m or f
• Swedish: krångelmakare (sv), hårklyvare

An unscrupulous lawyer

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 訟棍／讼棍 (zh) (sònggùn)

• Danish: vinkelskriver c (unqualified legal practitioner), lovtrækker c, lommeprokurator c
• French: avocaillon (fr) m, chicaneur (fr) m
• German: Winkeladvokat (de) m, Rechtsverdreher (de) m
• Italian: leguleio (it)
• Latin: lēgulēius m, rabula m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vinkelskriver (no) m

• Portuguese: rábula m
• Spanish: leguleyo (es) m, picapleitos (es) m or f, buscapleitos (es) m or f, rábula m or f, soplacausas, abogadillo m, tinterillo (es) m
• Swedish: brännvinsadvokat (sv), lagvrängare