Couper les cheveux en quatre
Example: Arrête de couper les cheveux en quatre et avance dans ton travail.
Definition
"Couper les cheveux en quatre" is a French expression meaning to overanalyze or split hairs by focusing excessively on minor details, often to the point of unnecessary complication or delay in making decisions or progressing with a task.
Etymology
The expression "Couper les cheveux en quatre" literally means 'to cut hairs into four parts.' It originates from the idea that cutting a single hair into four pieces is an impossible and overly meticulous task, symbolizing needless precision or overcomplication. Did you know it humorously exaggerates how tiny and impractical such detailed splitting would be?
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"Couper les cheveux en quatre" appears in the Vocaplus list "", containing 105 commonly used expressions.
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To split hairs