logomachy

(lə-gŏm'ə-kē)
n., pl., -chies.

1. A dispute about words.
2. A dispute carried on in words only; a battle of words.

[Greek logomakhiā, from logomakhein, to fight about words : logo-, logo- + makhē, battle.]

(Greek, logos, word, + machē, battle) A purely verbal dispute.

a dispute over or about words; controversy marked by verbiage

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem -- a kind of contest in which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is denied the reward of success.

    'Tis said by divers of the scholar-men
    That poor Salmasius died of Milton's pen.
    Alas! we cannot know if this is true,
    For reading Milton's wit we perish too.

---