the.com/quibble
A complaint too small to justify the energy spent having it.
means To raise a petty, nitpicking objection over a trivial point rather than the matter at hand.
from Likely a diminutive spinoff of the Latin-rooted 'quib' or 'quip' (a sharp, clever retort), with the '-ble' ending shrinking it down to something small and fussy — fitting, since a quibble is basically a quip that lost its wit and kept its edge. First shows up in the 1600s, often aimed at hairsplitting lawyers and logicians who'd argue the letter of a point while dodging its spirit.
- origin
- from Latin quibus, a word lawyers overused in disputes
- size
- always minor, never the actual problem
- usage tell
- often precedes a real criticism anyway
- synonym energy
- nitpick's more pedantic, less dramatic cousin