Procurar pelo em ovo
Meaning: To nitpick over nothing.
Language: Portuguese
Literally: To look for hair on an egg
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: An egg has no hair, so hunting for it pictures pointless, excessive fault-finding.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Couper les cheveux en quatre — literally: To cut hair in four
- Turkish: Armudun sapı var, üzümün çöpü var — literally: The pear has a stalk, the grape has a seed
More idioms — Food & Drink
- 朝飯前 (Asameshi mae) — A task so easy it can be done before eating.
- 棚から牡丹餅 (Tana kara botamochi) — An unexpected stroke of good luck.
- 그림의 떡 (Geurimui tteok) — Something desirable but completely out of reach.
- 김칫국부터 마신다 (gimchitgukbuteo masinda) — To count your chickens before they hatch.
- 우물에 가 숭늉 찾는다 (Umure ga sungnyung channeunda) — To demand results with absurd impatience.
- Iets voor zoete koek aannemen — To swallow a story uncritically.
More Portuguese idioms
- Ficar a ver navios — To be left disappointed and empty-handed.
- Onde Judas perdeu as botas — In the middle of nowhere; the back of beyond.
- Acertar na mosca — To be exactly right; to hit the bullseye.
- Dar com os burros n'água — To fail despite all your effort.
- Tirar o pai da forca — Said of something done in frantic urgency.
- Chorar de barriga cheia — To complain when you have nothing to complain about.
From our tongue twisters
- A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha. — Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter…
- O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. — An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.
- Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal. — A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.