Pettifog (verb)
pet-if-ogg
Quibble about petty points; to engage in legal chicanery.
Nowadays we’d call it nitpicking but I do love this archaic term for this highly irksome habit.
Example sentences
“Do you have to pettifog over every single thing?”
“He’s such a master of pettifogging that he could have the devil himself acquitted.”
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