What does 도토리 키재기긴 한데 mean?

Question

I've tried to translate this sentence '재보나 마나 도토리들 키재기긴 한데'. I looked up this phrase '도토리 키재기긴 한데' on Naver to find out it's used pretty often in many different situations. But I don't understand what does it mean though.

Answer 1

Literally, 도토리 키재기 means to measure/compare heights of an acorn/acorns. Standard Korean Language Dictionary lists 도토리 키재기 as an idiom/proverb: link

속담

1. 정도가 고만고만한 사람끼리 서로 다툼을 이르는 말.

2. 비슷비슷하여 견주어 볼 필요가 없음을 이르는 말.

A rough translation:

1. A phrase used to refer to a situation where people quarrel over something they are pretty much same about.
2. A phrase used to refer to a situation where it is unnecessary to compare things because they are more or less too similar.

So your phrase 재보나 마나 도토리들 키재기긴 한데 means "Don't even bother comparing because they are all of the same sort, but [...]."