diff --git a/eslint/locale.js b/eslint/locale.js
index b6f6f762be..746bff88a5 100644
--- a/eslint/locale.js
+++ b/eslint/locale.js
@@ -40,9 +40,13 @@ function walkDown(locale, path) {
  * to the MemberExpressions
  */
 function findCallExpression(node) {
-	if (node.type === 'CallExpression') return node
-	if (node.parent?.type === 'CallExpression') return node.parent;
-	if (node.parent?.type === 'MemberExpression') return findCallExpression(node.parent);
+	if (!node.parent) return null;
+
+	// the second half of this guard protects from cases like
+	// `foo(one.two.three)` where the CallExpression is parent of the
+	// MemberExpressions, but via `arguments`, not `callee`
+	if (node.parent.type === 'CallExpression' && node.parent.callee === node) return node.parent;
+	if (node.parent.type === 'MemberExpression') return findCallExpression(node.parent);
 	return null;
 }
 
diff --git a/eslint/locale.test.js b/eslint/locale.test.js
index cf64961054..2ba1fb3d24 100644
--- a/eslint/locale.test.js
+++ b/eslint/locale.test.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ ruleTester.run(
       {code: 'i18n.tsx.foo.baz(1)', options: [locale] },
       {code: 'whatever.i18n.ts.blah.blah', options: [locale] },
       {code: 'whatever.i18n.tsx.does.not.matter', options: [locale] },
+      {code: 'whatever(i18n.ts.foo.bar)', options: [locale] },
     ],
     invalid: [
       {code: 'i18n.ts.not', options: [locale], errors: 1 },