to split hairs
15
6.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
buscar minucias
- We don't have time to split hairs.
- Let's not split hairs
- want to split hairs
- split hairs and say
Do you more or less, Yeah, we're we're splitting hairs.
- Do you more or less, Yeah, we're we're splitting hairs.
- Eileen Lilian No, no, this it's it can't split hairs.
- I mean, but I kind of just the whole it's splitting hairs like I just, I don't like other people's kids that much as a default setting.
- Barr even split hairs about his own hair splitting when he was last in Congress, days after he received Mueller's letter.
Examples
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During the debate, some participants tried to split hairs over technical details rather than addressing the main issue.
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Yes, if you want to split hairs, yes, of course, obviously.
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Are we gonna split hairs here?
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- Let's not split hairs.
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Um, not to split hairs, but given that our legs are 90% shorter than yours...
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You really want to split hairs over whether or not waterboarding is torture?
Blog text (23) -
Such a distinction may seem like splitting hairs; the difference between the public interest and general welfare is one of degree.
Academic text (2001) -
OK, perhaps we are splitting hairs here, but it's useful to keep the concepts to keep the concepts right.
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If that's it, say so, but stop splitting hairs.
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Quit splitting hairs, okay?
Synonyms
26
7.0
To argue about small unimportant details to avoid the main point
21
5.7
To complain about very small unimportant mistakes
1
9.9
To argue in a stubborn way about small unimportant details
To make something too detailed so it loses its clear meaning
How Nitpicky
Surface Forms
Morphology
split + hairs
The phrase literally combines 'split' (divide) and 'hairs' (very fine strands), and the metaphor of dividing something extremely fine maps onto making excessively fine distinctions, so a partial connection exists. However the pragmatic meaning 'quibble over trivial details' is a culturally conventionalized metaphor that a B1 learner who only knows the words may not reliably infer without prior exposure or explanation, though similar idioms in some languages (e.g. French couper les cheveux en quatre) can sometimes help.
Etymology
Split hairs comes from the image of trying to split very thin hairs, a tiny and almost impossible task. So it means 'to focus on very small or unimportant differences'.