Nuts and Bolts: quibbles.

Ah, there's nothing like a good quibble.

Shall we all have a cup of tea?
Oh no, let's push the boat out and have one each, shall we?

Ah yes, quibbling can be really really annoying.

It's ever so useful in stories, though.

For instance, never trust a witch because her words will be twisted up tighter than a jar of pickled peppers and then you'll be DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.
No man of woman born shall harm Macbeth, eh? Macbeth was a fool to believe that would save him because of course no man of woman born doesn't cover women, children, and homicidal donkeys.
Then there was the pound of flesh thing in The Merchant of Venice (ah yes, Shakespeare loved a good quibble). I'm not going to publish a spoiler, but obviously a good lawyer could drive a coach and horses through that.

But why would anyone want to drive a coach and...

Look, just leave it, all right? It's an expression!


Oh, and be very careful when making bets. Loki (you know, the really annoying Norse godlet) lost his head in a bet, but then came up with the can't-harm-my-neck stunt.
He still got his lips sewn together, though, which pretty much served him right.

And genies...don't get me started on genies.

Word to use today: quibble. This word is from the Latin words quibus and quī, which are words often found in legal documents.

But then I suppose it's the job of a lawyer to nit-pick.