We describe a rich person as “rolling in dough”. The Spanish equivalent is “apalea oro”, which means “he’s shoveling gold”.
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30Apr
Categories: Jewels, Metals/Minerals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
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29Apr
Categories: Animals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
To describe a cold person we might call him a “dead fish” or say that “butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth”. In Spanish the phrase would be “es una mosquita muerta”, which means “he’s a dead warble”. Warble is a type of bird.
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28Apr
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
There are many Spanish idioms and phrases using “cara”, which means “face”. “Tener mala cara” means “to have bad face”. The idiomatic translation is “to be green around the gills”, which describes how we might look when hungover.
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27Apr
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Here’s a flower based idiom that has a different counterpart in English: “sentirse fresco como una rosa”. This means “to feel fresh as a rose”. Of course, the equivalent in English is “to feel as fresh as a daisy”.
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25Apr
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
A really brazen lie we call a “whopper”. In Spanish such a lie would be “a lie like a house”, as in “una mentira como una casa”.
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24Apr
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
A couple of humorous ways to describe nudity: “in one’s birthday suit” and “in the raw”. A Spanish equivalent is “en cueros”, which means “in leathers”.
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23Apr
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard..., Weather Comments: 0
When a person is inconstant, we describe him as “changing with the wind”. The equivalent phrase in Spanish is a variation on this theme. “Cambiar más que una veleta” means “to change more than a weather vane”.
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22Apr
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Spaniards are crazy about soccer (fútbol), and they’re good at it. Thus, it’s surprising that an idiomatic phrase for “bungling” or “botching” something is “hacer una cosa con los pies”. The literal translation is “to do a thing with the feet”.
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21Apr
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Here are two idioms using “quina”, which means “quinine”. “Más malo que la quina” means “worse than quinine”. The colloquial translation is “disgusting” or “revolting”. “Tragar la quina” means “to swallow the quinine”. Not surprisingly, the idiomatic meaning is “to put up with murder”.
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20Apr
Categories: Animals, Food, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
“Tener arroz y gallo muerto” literally translates to “to have rice and dead rooster”. The idiomatic meaning is “to have a meal fit for a king”.