QUESTION
What would be the correct way to translate into Spanish the idiom: "to miss the point"?
I'm often tempted to write "perder el punto", but it doesn't sound quite right.
For example: "To bring headphones to a concert is like missing the point".
ANSWER
As a native Spanish speaker I really like the English expression to miss the point but unfortunately there's no direct translation. In the context of an argument, you can use:
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Eso no viene a cuento / al caso / al tema
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Estás desviando la conversación / no cambies el tema
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Estás desvariando (warning: sounds harsh)
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¿Eso qué tiene que ver? (harsh, too)
In the context of the given example ("To bring headphones to a concert is like missing the point"):
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Eso no tiene mucho sentido
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Eso es más bien paradójico
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¿Es que, para qué vas a ir a un concierto si vas a llevar auriculares? (This retoric question is actually the most used idiom - as I said there's no translation for this one.)