“Por un pelito de rana” literally means “by a frog’s whisker”. The colloquial equivalent in English is “a close shave”, as when we narrowly escape from danger.
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31Aug
Categories: Animals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
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21Aug
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“Meterse entre las patas de los caballos” translates literally to “to get oneself between the horses’ legs”. The idiomatic meaning is “to get out of one’s depth”.
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20Aug
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“Vivir de gorra” literally means “to live of cap”. The colloquial translation is “to mooch” or “to sponge off of people”.
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19Aug
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“Meterse en trigo ajeno” literally means “to get oneself in someone else’s wheat”. The idiomatic equivalents are: “to meddle in someone else’s business” and “to stick one’e nose in someone else’s business”.
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18Aug
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“¡ Y sonó la flauta por casualidad!” literally translates to “and the flute sounded by chance”. The idiomatic meaning is “how lucky can you get!”.
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17Aug
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“Comer a dos carrillos” literally means “to eat with two cheeks”. We would say “to gobble down”.
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14Aug
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One term for a womanizer is “ladykiller”. In Spanish he’d be called a “thief of hearts”, as in “ladrón de corazones”.
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12Aug
Categories: Money/Coins, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When we are very frugal we “squeeze out every last cent” when spending money. In Spanish, an equivalent phrase is “sacarle jugo al dinero”, which means “to queeze juice out of the money”.
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11Aug
Categories: Animals, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
“Acostarse con las gallinas” literally means “to lie down (go to bed) with the hens”. The idiomatic meaning is completely innocent: “to go to bed early”.
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10Aug
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Here are some idioms using “entrañas”, which means “entrails” or “bowels”. “Ser der buenas entrañas” literally means “to be of good bowels”. The idiomatic translation is “to be big-hearted”. “Ser de malas entrañas” predictably means “to be callous”. Lastly, we have “echar las entrañas” which literally translates to “to throw out the entrails”. In English we “toss our cookies” or “puke”.