IdiomAnimals
Italian
Italianquestione di lana caprina
Meaning: A trivial or pointless debate that wastes time and produces no useful result.
Literally: Matter of goat's wool
Example: “Discutere sul colore delle sedie è una questione di lana caprina.” — Arguing about the color of the chairs is a storm in a teacup.
English equivalent: A storm in a teacup
Equivalents in other languages
English: a storm in a teacup
Portuguese: fazer uma tempestade num copo de água Literally: To make a storm in a glass of water
French: Une guerre picrocholine Literally: A Picrocholine war- French: Une tempête dans un verre d'eau Literally: A storm in a glass of water
Origin: From the Roman poet Horace (Epistles I, 18), who mocks a man who quarrels "over goat's wool" (de lana caprina). Goat hair was not counted as wool at all, so arguing whether it was wool was arguing about nothing. Italian kept the image for a pointless dispute over trivia.
More Italian idioms
- smemorato di Collegno A hopelessly forgetful person.
- fare a scaricabarile To evade responsibility by shifting blame to someone else; to pass the buck.
- alla carlona In a careless, rough, or sloppy way without regard for neatness or precision.
- battere i tacchi To run away or flee hastily.
- dove non batte il sole On one's backside; used in crude retorts, like English "where the sun doesn't shine."
- fuori del seminato Off the point; irrelevant or beside the subject at hand.
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