Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. Scot.) argument, confusion, confrontation; thus argie-bargien, an argument.

c.1838		T. Hood Hood’s Own (1869) 155: Mr. Higginbottom considderd it his public dewty to inspect into all the privit letters at the office witch [...] has led to a deal of warm argy bargy pro and con on both sides.
1865		Stirling Obs. 18 May 5/4: An ‘Argie-Bargie’ and its Result.
1872		Fife Free Press 24 Feb. 4/5: He comes here week after week and fechts awa nimbly enough wi’ the pencil, the deil a bit better are we, seeing oor argie-bargiens are no reproduced in prent.
1887		Jamieson Supplement to Etym. Dict. Scot. Lang. n.p.: Argewe, The terms argie-bargie, argie, and bargie, are applied to such contentions.
1898		Kirkintilloch Herald 12 Oct. 8/2: Syne he’s het in argy-bargy / Wi’ the gleg Apostle Paul.
1905		H.G. Wells Kipps (1952) 45: His chief intellectuial stimulus was an occasional argey-bargey that sprang up between Carshot and Buggins.
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 23: The three P’s would [...] return singing through the night, or having an ‘argy-bargy’ about the stars.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 176: After a bit of argy-bargy they sets about me.
1941		N. Mitchison Among You Taking Notes 28 Sept. 165: We had a fine argie-bargie, anyway!
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 243: The day all spoiled, and the rest of it already booked up for his arging and barging.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 296: Argy-bargy for ‘argument’. This type of slang is not cockney either in origin or in use.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 189: There was a fuss when we left, there was a flaming argie-bargie when we got back.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 34: After lots of argy-bargy it appeared that the man in the sports car had offered the full asking price.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 95: And there’s no messin’ at all; they don’t want to know who he is [...] so there’s no argy-bargy.
1999		Guardian Editor 11 June 14: No onion bhajis and not much argy-bargy at this extraordinary cricketing [...] occasion.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 62: The Code of the Underclass [...] pregnant women were temporarily exempted from the argy-bargy.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 135: My auld boy n Olly Curran [...] are ower and joining the argy-bargy.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] After a bit more argy-bargy about [...] the general principles involved.
2016		Guardian (Review) 13 Aug. 🌐 The two friends have their usual argy-bargy about socialism.
2018		G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] ‘[H]adn’t there been argy-bargy with the bar staff?’.