macher

Pronounced: MOCK-uhr, noun

Notes: I wasn’t right in the definition, but I was close in the origin

---

Yesterday’s word

The word argy-bargy is “a lively discussion; argument; dispute”

First usage

Our word came into English around 1600

Background / Comments

I think that the alternate pronunciation was new to me because I have heard this word on some show from the UK using the first pronunciation. There is also a variant (“argle-bargle”). Both argy and argle are words that in some English and Scottish dialects of the word “argue”. However, there is no record of a word “bargy” or “bargle”; it is thought that the final word was added as a king of singsong reduplication of argy/argle. Synonyms are “donnybrook” and “contretemps”, but “donnybrook” implies a fight or brawl, and “contretemps” implies just an embarrassing mischance.