the.com/spat

means A brief, minor quarrel over something that usually doesn't matter much in the long run.

from Origin uncertain. 'Spat' surfaces in the 1800s as American slang for a petty squabble, and nobody can prove where it came from — though it's tempting to hear an echo of the sound itself, a sharp little 'spat!' like a slap or a spit, the verbal equivalent of a hiss before it fizzles out. Some link it loosely to 'spit' or to dialect words for a slight blow, but these are guesses dressed up as history, not confirmed roots.