Look for the owl

Look for the owl

It's a Chinese idiom. Pinyin is Ji à nd à nqi ú Xi à o, which means that when you see a bullet, you want to get the roast meat of a bird. It comes from Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun.

The origin of Idioms

Chuang Tzu's Qi Wu Lun: "and the female also plans early. When she sees the egg, she asks for the time and night, and when she sees the bullet, she asks for the owl to fry."

Idiom usage

To estimate the actual effect prematurely. Example: because you are looking for dodder, you are looking for owls. Gu Yanwu, Qing Dynasty