PICK HOLES IN - BUSCARLE LOS TRES PIES AL GATO

 

Some people are forever trying to "pick holes in" whatever. They love to contradict people or "llevarles la contraria" or better still "siempre le están buscando los tres pies al gato" in whatever, be it an idea, a proposal, a future plan... 

To pick holes in - Buscarle los tres pies al gato.

If you try to find mistakes in something, you "pick holes in it", trying to find those "holes", those "errors" that will prove your opponent wrong. The Spanish "buscarle los tres pies al gato" has exactly the same meaning. Of course, a cat has four feet, and trying to prove it has three shows how argumentative people can be. 

En her wonderful novel, "Nubosidad variable" (1992), Carmen Martín Gaite nos dice: "Ese afan de buscar los tres pies al gato, tan típico de los psiquiatras." I think she is right, psychiatrist love to "pick holes in" everything.

Speaking of his manuscript, a writer says that "13 publishers have said no and picked holes in it..."