“Split hairs”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

English splits a hair, and French cuts one in four, couper les cheveux en quatre. Brazilian Portuguese looks for hair on an egg, procurar pelo em ovo, and Turkish complains that the pear has a stalk and the grape a pip.

Two lean toward overcomplicating rather than nitpicking. Spanish looks for three feet on the cat, buscarle tres pies al gato. French looks for noon at two in the afternoon, chercher midi à quatorze heures. French also has a famously crude version, enculer les mouches.