M-W Word of the day: Pettifogger

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Merriam-Webster ✔ @MerriamWebster

📈'Pettifogger'
- one given to quibbling over trifles
- a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded, or disreputable

https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/roberts-warns-against-pettifogging-20200122 …
📈 Trend Watch: Roberts Warns Against 'Pettifogging' - 1/22/2020 | Merriam-Webster
Dictionary lookups of 'pettifogger' are trending on Merriam-Webster.com. Roberts scolds over impeachment exchanges

8:24 AM - Jan 22, 2020

It's one of those words that sounds like it means what it really means (petty fogging).

[Wounded Bear]

1. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit...

in cruder terms.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Fits Spanky's clown car defense perfectly.

[Hortensis]

3. I didn't know that second one. Of course, "fogging."

Dirty politicians wouldn't get far at all without sowing that combination of deceit and confusion they hide the truth about themselves in.