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Argy Bargy

Posted by Pdianek on November 04, 2003

In Reply to: Argy Bargy posted by James Briggs on November 04, 2003

: : In a message from an English friend:
: : Since that moment, much of the argy bargy in the struggles for power in the UK have been in the cause of Catholic v Protestant rule.
: : What does it mean?

: It's rhyming slang. 'Argy' is short for 'argument'. 'Bargy' is a made up word to rhyme with 'argy'. The whole thing simply means argument, confrontation, etc.

Ahhhh -- so "argy", being short for "argument", must be pronounced with a hard G, like "got"? Since I'd only ever read the expression, not heard it, I'd assumed it was a soft G (as in "giraffe"), viewing that -GY ending as similar to the one in "rangy" -- meaning tall and slender.

Thanks for clarifying!

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