short pieces of cloth or leather that cover the ankle and lower leg, worn over shoes and trousers (historical fashion), or minor quarrels and disagreements.
Short for 'spatterdash' (cloth leg covering), from 'spatter' + 'dash.' The connection between cloth coverings and quarrels came later, possibly from 'spat' meaning to quarrel.
Spats were especially fashionable in the 1920s and represented wealth—only people who could afford custom footwear and formal clothes wore them. Today the word mostly means silly arguments, which shows how languages repurpose old objects into new meanings!
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