毛驴钉马掌,小蹄大做 毛驢釘馬掌,小蹄大做 毛驢釘馬掌,小蹄大做

a donkey shod with horseshoes: small hoof (issue), big work (fuss)

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning
Making a big fuss over a trivial matter. Like 'making a mountain out of a molehill'.
Wordplay
蹄 (tí, hoof) sounds like 题 (tí, issue), so 小蹄大做 echoes 小题大做, 'make a big deal of a small matter'.
Simplified
毛驴钉马掌,小蹄大做
Traditional (Taiwan)
毛驢釘馬掌,小蹄大做
Pinyin
máolǘ dìngmǎzhǎng, xiǎo tí dà zuò
Bopomofo
ㄇㄠˊ ㄌㄩˊ ㄉㄧㄥˋ ㄇㄚˇ ㄓㄤˇ,ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧˊ ㄉㄚˋ ㄗㄨㄛˋ

Written with HSK 1 vocabulary, at CEFR level A1.

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