There is a saying, “猫の手も借りたい” meaning something like to be super busy. What does this have to do with cats?
It means “I’m so busy I even want the cat to lend a hand”. The implication is that the speaker would accept help even from the cat who doesn’t usually do any work.
Thanks!
Cool, I’m using this one. Thanks. Got anymore Japanese sayings?
I randomly ran across that one, but e.g. here is a short list:
also plenty of them via the External Links at the end of the Wikipedia article:
@ThisOneGuy hit it in one, but adding to that, I’d translate it as “I’m so busy that I want even the cat to help as well.” so the speaker has been looking for help from everyone. The expression dates to a time when cats were mostly kept around to catch mice but worthless otherwise.
Would that the cats would herd themselves…
My thought is that, even if a cat did try to help out, its “help” would probably be pretty worthless. The situation would have to be pretty dire before even cat-help would be an improvement.