paró’n gorreta – it went nowhere – acabó en nada

[is]

paró’n gorreta: pronounced pahr-OHN gohr-EH-tah. Idiomatic expression typical of County Casu, and particularly in the village of Tanes, conveying that a plan taking shape never came to fruition. Something that does not work out, a task at hand that is undertaken to no avail. A project that is nipped in the bud, or something that never amounts to anything because of hard luck or ominous, unpredictable odds. A non-starter or unsuccessful enterprise. Similar in meaning to German ‘Zukunftsmusik’, literally ‘music of the future’, but denoting plans in the long-term that may or may not become realized.
Note: ‘paró’ is the past tense of the verb ‘parar’ (to stop). ‘gorreta’ could be a diminutive for ‘gorra/gorru’ (hat).

Usage examples (courtesy of Choco):
Question: ‘¿Qué, en qué paró lo del tu hermanu cola fía de Canor?’ (So, what came out of your brother’s affair with Canor’s daughter?)
Answer: ‘Ná, eso paró’n gorreta’ (Nothing, that never went anywhere.)

Question: ‘¿Ayeri fuistéis al monte por fín?’ (Did you finally go hiking up the mountain yesterday?)
Answer: ‘Qué va, al final llovió y paró’n gorreta.’ (Not at all, it poured and our plans went nowhere.)

More examples:
‘Lo de mercar la panera paez que paró’n gorreta. La probina nun tien perres pa ello.’ (The plan to buy a panera [a large ‘horru’] never went anywhere. The poor woman didn’t have enough money)

‘Reconversión industrial, competitividá pal campo, trabayu pa la mocedá, reforma de la universidá—n’Asturies tou paró’n gorreta.’ (Re-industrialization plans, competitiveness for dairy farms, jobs for young people, university reforms—in Asturias it all went to nought).

[Bob]

I can't help thinking of an idea that goes nowhere as one that gets stuck in one's hat, gorra, or boina before it can reach the external world. Sort of akin to the English expression "keep this under your hat" (i.e., don;t let it out to the world at large). Thanks for the explanation of the phrase.

[is]

Very clever, Bob. I hadn't thought of that. But it does make sense to think that abstract ideas or hazy plans for the future (wishful thinking, daydreaming) need to fight the constraint of breaking through the hat barrier, as if it were a particularly challenging cell membrane for fleeting thoughts. I'll ask Choco (our new member from Tanes) about 'gorreta'.