# Buscarle tres pies/patas al gato.



## elpregunto

Buenas tardes

 Would someone please translate the phrase 'Buscarle los tres patas al gato' and give me a similar phrase in English?

Mi intento:

He looks for three feet on the cat.

Gracias


----------



## Hebe-asteriod

If you just wish to translate the words (literal translation) your proposal is probably an option; but if you want to translate the meaning of the phrase I suggest something like "*to be looking for trouble*". There is probably an idiomatic English expression conveying the same meaning; but it does not come to mind right now, 

Hope it helps


----------



## Aserolf

Es como:
*Complicating things unnecessarily*

Para mas ejemplos de _English Idioms_ haz clic en este enlace:

*ENGLISH IDIOMS & IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS*

Espero te sirva!


----------



## Dlyons

elpregunto said:


> Buenas tardes
> 
> Would someone please translate the phrase 'Buscarle los tres patas al gato' and give me a similar phrase in English?
> 
> Mi intento:
> 
> He looks for three feet on the cat.
> 
> Gracias



http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=22852


----------



## JB

Don´t look for trouble.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  (Bad English, but a colloquial expression nonetheless.)
Also see http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=392877
and
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=22852

Los dos enlaces se encuentran en el Diccionario WR bajo la palabra "gato".


----------



## elpregunto

Gracias

It all makes sense now. 

This phrase is saying ' Don't look for trouble where there is none.'

But 'three feet on a cat' I would never have figured at out.

Thankyou.


----------



## gotitadeleche

FESARGENTINA said:


> Ufff... Ese sitio de modismos.... Probablemente no sea buena idea ir a esta pagina, las frases que he leido son muy... raras... Si usas esa expresiones en Estados Unidos... Personas se van a reir... Pero solo algunas, hay ciertas frases que tienen sentido, pero la mayor parte son extranas...



Which ones were strange? I took a quick look--only at one page--and it seemed fine to me.


----------



## bluepolaris

Hello. The best translation for this spanish modism "Buscarle tres pies al gato " would be "To split hairs"


----------



## elpregunto

bluepolaris said:


> Hello. The best translation for this spanish modism "Buscarle tres pies al gato " would be "To split hairs"


 

Gracias

I like this one. It fits the context perfectly.


----------



## Perceptor

In Chile the original sentence in spanish has no sense. In Chile we say "buscarle la quinta pata al gato", where "pata" is the generic name for the extremities.
In this context, the sentence has no meaning, because any cat has "cuatro patas".

Anyway, I agree with the previous posts, you are looking for problems where there is no one.


----------



## Lagartija

FESARGENTINA said:


> Ufff... Ese sitio de modismos.... Probablemente no sea buena idea ir a esta pagina, las frases que he leido son muy... raras... Si usas esa expresiones en Estados Unidos... Personas se van a reir... Pero solo algunas, hay ciertas frases que tienen sentido, pero la mayor parte son extranas...



Actually, the majority of the phrases I read from this link were quite standard.  Most I have heard often and used at one time or another!

Maybe it's an age thing?   Or geography?


----------



## kalamazoo

Most of those expressions are quite familar to me also. But I have noticed that my 20-something children don't seem to understand some expressions that I think are perfectly common and obvious, so there may be some generational aspect here. Certainly something like "cows coming home" or "dog in the manger" seem like perfectly ordinary and easy to understand expressions to me. I should check to see if my daughter understands them.


----------



## Nenita75

Hola....

I read the above English phrases, am in my early thirties and have heard all of them....all make sense to me on this side of the Pacific.

I want to know how this phrase is being used...In what context are you using it because it can mean different things depending on the situation.

If a person is "buscandole tres pies al gato", problems where there are none or when a matter is finished than, he/she may be "beating a dead horse". Or if this person is involving himself/herself in a matter where he/she wasn't originally involved then he/she may be "Sticking their nose where it doesn't belong".

Sort of like "curiosity killed the cat"...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just my opinion and I do not claim to be correct...


----------



## mauma84

El gato no tiene pies, sino patas


----------



## roanheads

bluepolaris said:


> Hello. The best translation for this spanish modism "Buscarle tres pies al gato " would be "To split hairs"



Creo que " to split hairs " más bien traduce " rizar el rizo " o " hilar fino "

Saludos.


----------



## ptak30

Nenita75 said:


> Hola....
> 
> I read the above English phrases, am in my early thirties and have heard all of them....all make sense to me on this side of the Pacific.
> 
> I want to know how this phrase is being used...In what context are you using it because it can mean different things depending on the situation.
> 
> If a person is "buscandole tres pies al gato", problems where there are none or when a matter is finished than, he/she may be "beating a dead horse". Or if this person is involving himself/herself in a matter where he/she wasn't originally involved then he/she may be "Sticking their nose where it doesn't belong".
> 
> Sort of like "curiosity killed the cat"...
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Just my opinion and I do not claim to be correct...



The English expression is "flogging a dead horse".


----------



## kalamazoo

WE also say "Let sleeping dogs lie" which means "dont stir up trouble when it's not necessary" but this is a fixed expression, so you have to be careful.  You can say "I told him to let sleeping dogs lie' or 'he refused to let sleeping dogs lie" but you can't change the phrase itself.


----------



## duvija

¿Por qué le cambiaron la cantidad de patas a ese pobre gato? por mi pueblo es 'buscarle la quinta pata al gato'. Con tres, se cae...


----------



## k-in-sc

Cat anatomy apparently is the same in Chile:





Perceptor said:


> In Chile the original sentence in spanish has no sense. In Chile we say "buscarle la quinta pata al gato", where "pata" is the generic name for the extremities.
> In this context, the sentence has no meaning, because any cat has "cuatro patas".
> 
> Anyway, I agree with the previous posts, you are looking for problems where there is no one none.


----------



## scotu

duvija said:


> ¿Por qué le cambiaron la cantidad de patas a ese pobre gato? por mi pueblo es 'buscarle la quinta pata al gato'. Con tres, se cae...



I agree.  Five feet makes sense, three does not....which is correct?


----------



## duvija

I checked with Uncle Google. All of them appear, with many millions each. Tres pies/tres patas/cinco pies/cinco patas. Really confusing...


----------



## mvfgrant

I find this site a bit late xD
I'm a native Spanish speaker, I reach this site because I was trying to go backwards, how to said this phrase in english xD
the main story is that the main subject of the phrase is fighting desperately to prove that his statement is true, with all means... there are emotions that obfuscate clear thinking ,  like hate, envy, greed, etc. so the objective of the phrase is make fun of the main subject, that has these tendentious feelings , indicating that his search is an absurd, and he should get free of these feelings that obscure his mind

Example: " Carol doesn't want to approve and continue arguing that Katy's' work could be improved , why doesn't she stop searching three legs to the cat and admit that Katy work is already done and that she (Carol) isn't the only person who could give a perfect work... she is so conceited
"


----------



## Oldy Nuts

In Chile, _buscar las cinco patas al gato_ or _buscar la quinta pata al gato_ (fifth leg that the cat does not and cannot have) have been always used to denote a person desperately looking to prove that his/her statement/position is right, in spite of all evidence against it. _Buscar las tres patas del gato_ sounds absurd to us.


----------



## jsvillar

mauma84 said:


> El gato no tiene pies, sino patas


Eso es correcto, pero en España la expresión es con pies, no con patas.


----------



## Foraneo

Oldy Nuts said:


> In Chile, _buscar las cinco patas al gato_ or _buscar la quinta pata al gato_ (fifth leg that the cat does not and cannot have) have been always used to denote a person desperately looking to prove that his/her statement/position is right, in spite of all evidence against it. _Buscar las tres patas del gato_ sounds absurd to us.



The same here.  It is also said when someone is looking for excuses dismissing something. For example, a teacher who does not approve a project that is apparently well, but he shows himself very demanding.

And of course… the saying here is “le está buscando la quinta pata al gato” (neither tres nor piernas)


----------



## Mr.Dent

mvfgrant said:


> why doesn't she stop searching three legs to the cat


A literal translation makes no sense at all in English. You could say:
why doesn't she stop hairsplitting
why doesn't she stop looking for things that don't exist
why doesn't she stop being such a nitpicker


----------



## nomadejado

It has nothing to do with the anatomy of the animal but with feet rhymes. Hence, "pie" (not "pata") and three (because it constains two: ga-to).


----------



## Oldy Nuts

Sorry, but I don't understand your reasoning. Why not explain it in Spanish?


----------



## sound shift

"Make a mountain out of a molehill"?


----------



## Oldy Nuts

sound shift said:


> "Make a mountain out of a molehill"?



Well, I don't think that this popular idiom reflects the idea that I explained in my message #23, and Forero reinforced in his message #25.


----------



## Foraneo

nomadejado said:


> It has nothing to do with the anatomy of the animal but with feet rhymes. Hence, "pie" (not "pata") and three (because it constains two: ga-to).





Oldy Nuts said:


> Sorry, but I don't understand your reasoning. Why not explain it in Spanish?



Yo tampoco entiendo. ¿Dónde está la rima?

"Buscarle tres pies al gato "


----------



## sound shift

Oldy Nuts said:


> Well, I don't think that this popular idiom reflects the idea that I explained in my message #23, and Forero reinforced in his message #25.


True - but it does agree with posts 3 and 10. Perhaps there's no point in my making a suggestion when Spanish speakers quite clearly differ over the meaning. Or perhaps we're in difficulty because the thread starter didn't supply any context.


----------



## nomadejado

No es rima. Son pies rítmicos. Cada sílaba equivale a un pie.


----------



## Oldy Nuts

Perdona mi ignorancia, pero me dejas igual.


----------



## Foraneo

nomadejado said:


> No es rima. Son pies rítmicos. Cada sílaba equivale a un pie.





Oldy Nuts said:


> Perdona mi ignorancia, pero me dejas igual.



JA! Yo igual. Entiendo lo que dices sobre las sílabas, pero igual no veo la relación que tiene con un refrán.

Me parece que no solamente el océano nos separa


----------



## Wandering JJ

ptak30 said:


> The English expression is "flogging a dead horse".


 Agreed!


----------



## Amapolas

Mr.Dent said:


> A literal translation makes no sense at all in English. You could say:
> why doesn't she stop hairsplitting
> why doesn't she stop looking for things that don't exist
> why doesn't she stop being such a nitpicker


To me, this is exactly the meaning of the phrase (which on these shores is _la quinta pata_). 


Wandering JJ said:


> Agreed!


Please correct me if I'm wrong, JJ. As I see it, there's a shade of difference, as I could say 'buscarle la quinta pata al gato' (or buscar el pelo en la sopa) from the very beginning of the discussion. However,flogging a dead horse is (to me) to continue to argue when it's a lost cause or you know you'll get nowhere. I'd say it's closer to having a Byzantine discussion.


----------



## nomadejado

Foraneo said:


> JA! Yo igual. Entiendo lo que dices sobre las sílabas, pero igual no veo la relación que tiene con un refrán.
> 
> Me parece que no solamente el océano nos separa


Pie (métrica) - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Ga- sílaba 1
To- silába 2

No existe la tercera sílaba-pie. No hay tercer pie-pata del "gato. Es un juego de palabras.


----------



## Foraneo

Está bien Nomadejado, tienes razón. Solo que es para entendidos y no para tipos simples como yo (si miras mi ‘firma’ en mis datos comprenderás mejor lo que digo)


----------



## catrina

Por acá también es 'buscarle tres pies al gato', como en el Quijote, así es que la diferencia de uso entre tres pies o cinco patas parece algo regional. 

De todas formas el hilo original es buscar el equivalente en inglés, ¿cuál quedó? gracias


----------



## lauranazario

En Puerto Rico: buscarle las cinco patas al gato.

Buscarle las cinco patas/los tres pies al gato = to complicate matters

Saludos,
LN


----------



## duvija

¡Pero quieren la versión en inglés! (irrelevante la cantidad de patas en los gatos de habla hispana: los que dicen  'miau' y no 'meow'. También está : no buscarle pelos al huevo. Y también es irrelevante para la pregunta)


----------



## lauranazario

duvija said:


> ¡Pero quieren la versión en inglés!


He brindado una traducción/equivalencia... mira mi post #41.

Saludos,
LN


----------



## gengo

My friend has a polydactyl cat with eight toes on each front paw, each of which looks like two paws, so I guess that uno le podría buscar las seis patas a ese gato.  

By the way, I named his cat Faux Paw.


----------



## duvija

Yo estaba buscando algún dicho ('idiom') con ese significado y  no algo como una traducción. No sé si se pedía algo coloquial o más serio que las patas de nuestros gatos.


----------



## Rodal

bluepolaris said:


> Hello. The best translation for this spanish modism "Buscarle tres pies al gato " would be "To split hairs"



La frase idiomática que conozco yo es: "no le busques las 3 o 4 patas al gato (en Chile son 4 patas en lugar de 3).

Quiere decir: no complicarse la vida con las cosas simples; no es necesario buscarle las patas a un gato cuando sabemos que tiene 4; entonces a las personas que se empeñan en complicarse la vida se les dice, "deja de buscarle las 3 patas al gato", en otras palabras, porque pierdes tu tiempo.

En inglés: Don't drown in a glass of water. This expression also exists in Spanish: No te ahogues en un vaso de agua.


----------



## catrina

gengo said:


> My friend has a polydactyl cat with eight toes on each front paw, each of which looks like two paws, so I guess that uno le podría buscar las seis patas a ese gato.
> 
> By the way, I named his cat Faux Paw.


----------



## Janis Joplin

El refrán original es: 

"No le busques tres pies al ga-*to*, 
sabiendo que tiene cua-*tro*."

Ahí esta la rima y es independiente de cuantas patas tenga.


----------



## Wandering JJ

Amapolas said:


> To me, this is exactly the meaning of the phrase (which on these shores is _la quinta pata_).
> 
> Please correct me if I'm wrong, JJ. As I see it, there's a shade of difference, as I could say 'buscarle la quinta pata al gato' (or buscar el pelo en la sopa) from the very beginning of the discussion. However,flogging a dead horse is (to me) to continue to argue when it's a lost cause or you know you'll get nowhere. I'd say it's closer to having a Byzantine discussion.


Amapolas, you are not wrong! I should not have written 'agreed' without looking at the whole thread. In #13 Nenita spoke of 'beating a dead horse' to which ptak30 said in #16 'The English expression is "flogging a dead horse".' I took this as a correction of the English expression, not a translation of 'buscarle los tres patas al gato'.

I believe the best interpretation to be nitpick/nitpicking.


----------



## Amapolas

Wandering JJ said:


> Amapolas, you are not wrong! I should not have written 'agreed' without looking at the whole thread. In #13 Nenita spoke of 'beating a dead horse' to which ptak30 said in #16 'The English expression is "flogging a dead horse".' I took this as a correction of the English expression, not a translation of 'buscarle los tres patas al gato'.
> 
> I believe the best interpretation to be nitpick/nitpicking.


Oh, I see. Thanks for explaining.


----------



## duvija

I agree that the best is 'nitpicking'. It's the closest one in register too.


----------



## gengo

Wandering JJ said:


> I should not have written 'agreed' without looking at the whole thread. In #13 Nenita spoke of 'beating a dead horse' to which ptak30 said in #16 'The English expression is "flogging a dead horse".' I took this as a correction of the English expression,



In AmEn, it is "beating," so it might be better to say that the _British_ expression is with flogging, since we use English, too.


----------



## Digital Linguist

I don't know much about generational gaps in knowledge of idiomatic expressions (especially in the Spanish language), but I did run portions of these phrases through Google's Ngram and found the results rather interesting.  Google's Ngram only allows you to search for phrases of four words or less, but assuming there are few phrases that begin with "buscarle la quinta pata" or "buscarle tres pies" it gives you something to go on and might explain why one version may be more familiar to some than to others.  If anyone knows why "buscarle la quinta pata" seems to have emerged in the 1960s, I'd love to hear your theories.  The link to the Google Ngram search I did is here.


----------



## Digital Linguist

kalamazoo said:


> Most of those expressions are quite familar to me also. But I have noticed that my 20-something children don't seem to understand some expressions that I think are perfectly common and obvious, so there may be some generational aspect here. Certainly something like "cows coming home" or "dog in the manger" seem like perfectly ordinary and easy to understand expressions to me. I should check to see if my daughter understands them.


I don't know much about generational gaps in knowledge of idiomatic expressions (especially in the Spanish language), but I did run portions of these phrases through Google's Ngram and found the results rather interesting.  Google's Ngram only allows you to search for phrases of four words or less, but assuming there are few phrases that begin with "buscarle la quinta pata" or "buscarle tres pies" it gives you something to go on and might explain why one version may be more familiar to some than to others.  If anyone knows why "buscarle la quinta pata" seems to have emerged in the 1960s, I'd love to hear your theories.  The link to the Google Ngram search I did is here.  A similar search I conducted is here.  As you can see, the results for both sets of phrases is roughly the same.


----------



## sound shift

I might say "You're looking for hens' teeth", "There's no point in looking for hens' teeth".


----------

