Here’s an idiom, using an animal, that is identical in English and Spanish: “dejar a uno hecho un mico”. Translation: “to make a monkey out of someone”.
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30May
Categories: Animals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
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29May
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
It may be a bit of a stretch to place this Spanish idiom in the category of “anatomy”. One way of saying “as old as the hills” in Spanish is “mas viejo que la sarna”. The literal translation is “older than scabies”.
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28May
Categories: Nautical, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When someone has been thoroughly fooled we say “he bought it hook, line and sinker”. In Spanish, the equivalent phrase uses only the hook: “se tragó el anzuelo”, which means “he swallowed the hook”.
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27May
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When someone has a fit of anger we employ such idioms as “to hit the roof” or “to blow one’s top”. One Spanish idiom along these lines is “subirse a la parra”, which literally means “to climb up the grapevine”.
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26May
Categories: Jewels, Nationality/Ethnicity, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When someone asks a lot of us, we say “to ask for the earth”. In Spanish, one equivalent phrase is “pedir el oro y el moro”, which means “to ask for the gold and the moor”. The Spanish equivalent of ”to promise the moon and the stars” is “prometer el oro y el moro”.
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23May
Categories: Names, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
To describe something that is fantastic in the sense of being excellent, the Spanish might say “es de Lope”. Lope refers to the extraordinary classical playwright, Lope de Vega.
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22May
Categories: Animals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
I don’t know of an idiom in English to describe loud snoring, but the Spanish version is “roncar como un mastín”, which means “to snore like a mastiff”.
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21May
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When someone is very astute we might use the phrase “to be as sharp as a razor”. An equivalent in Spanish is a variation on this theme: “cortar un pelo en el aire”. This translates to “to cut a hair in the air”.
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20May
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Pegar, fajar (una bofetada), solfa, zumbar la pandereta, deslomar, pegarle un mojicón, aporrear, tocata, dar paliza, apalear, golpear, trillar, zurrar (la badana), vapulear, brear, sobar, azotar, bofetear, cascar, romper la crisma, moler a palos, manotear, sacudir, dar a uno jarabe de palo, majar, endiñar, mamporro, friega, volcar, tute, dar una tunda, soplar una torta, arrimar candela a uno, felpa, sopetón, abofetar, santiguar, cimbrar, cascarle las liendres, fajar, darle mas palos que a una estera, estampar, tiento, puñetazo, remoquete, arrimar yesca, and mondar a palos.
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20May
Categories: Military, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
A bossy wife might be described as a tyrant. In Spanish one might say “su mujer es una sargenta”, which means “his wife is a sergeant”.