When we are sad we are said to have a “heavy heart”. In Spanish the equivalent phrase is a bit more graphic: “tener un clavo en el corazòn”. This translates to “to have a nail in the heart”.
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13Dec
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20Jul
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“Tener buena percha” literally means “to have good hanger”. The idiomatic translation is “to have a good physique”.
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06Jul
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We describe stiffness in terms of a board, as in “as stiff as a board”. The Spanish equivalent is “estar mas tieso que el palo de una escoba”. The literal translation is “to be stiffer than a broomstick”.
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09Jun
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When we have to harass someone to get information we say we had “to drag it out of him”. An equivalent phrase in Spanish is “sacársele a uno con pinzas”, which means “to pull it out of him with pincers”. Ouch!
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04May
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We describe someone who is daft as “having a screw loose”. In Spanish the equivalent phrase uses the plural, as in “tener flojos los tornillos”. The other phrase, “to be missing a screw” is identical in Spanish: “faltarle un tornillo”.
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05Mar
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We call an outstanding athlete an “ace”. In Spanish he would be an “axe”, as in “hacha”. This can also mean “hatchet”. In English a “hatchet job” has a completely different connotation.
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18Sep
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“En dos paletadas” means “in two shovelfuls”. English has an equivalent idiom using the number two: “in two shakes of a lamb’s tail”. Another equivalent phrase is “in the wink of an eye”.
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22Jul
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When someone is slow to learn we might say that we have “to drum something into someone’s head”. In Spanish a different implement is used, as in “meterle a alguien una cosa con cuchara”. The literal translation is “to put a thing into someone with a spoon”.
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15Jul
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One way of describing a woman with great sex appeal is “mujer que tiene gancho”. The literal translation is “woman who has hook”.
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12Apr
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When someone is really stupid we might use the phrase “dumber than a door knob”. In Spanish, this person would be “dumber than a plough”, as in “mas torpe que un arado”.