Here’s what a Spaniard might say to someone understating her age. “Tengo treinta años” (”I have thirty years” literally). “¡ En cada pata!”. This means “In each leg!”. Note that “pata” is used when referring to animals. For a human leg “pierna” is used.
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31Mar
Categories: Anatomy, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
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30Mar
Categories: Religion, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Here’s a way of saying “once in a blue moon” in Spanish with a religious theme: “de Pascuas a Ramos”. The literal translation is “from Easter to Palm Sunday”.
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29Mar
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When we have more than we need we might say “I have more than enough”. In Spanish, one might say “me basta y me sobra”, which means “it’s enough for me and more than enough more me”.
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26Mar
Categories: Food, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
“Merendarse a alguien” translates literally to “to have a snack to someone”. The colloquial meaning is “to trounce someone”. An idiomatic equivalent in English is “to eat someone’s lunch”.
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25Mar
Categories: Numbers, SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
“Hacer un número” means simply “to do a number”. The colloquial sense is “to do something outrageous”. This is similar to the English version of “to do a number on someone”.
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24Mar
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When we have a “sure thing” we say “it’s in the bag”. In Spain it would be in the “jar”, as in “está en el bote”. In bars in Spain when a tip is given the bartender will sometimes shout “¡al bote!”, which also means tip jar.
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23Mar
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
When someone is vulnerable to the same crticism made of others we warn that “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. In Spanish a glass roof will suffice, as in “tener el tejado de vidrio”, which means “to have a roof of glass”.
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22Mar
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Sometimes we get left “holding the bag”. It could be worse: in Spain you might get left holding the dead guy, as in “cargar con el muerto”.
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19Mar
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In a prior posting we have listed “darse charol” as one of the multitude of ways to say “to brag” in Spanish. Here’s the literal meaning: “to give oneself varnish”.
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18Mar
Categories: SPEAK Like A Spaniard... Comments: 0
Since March Madness is now upon us, here’s a Spanish idiom that is the equivalent of “to be as mad as a hatter”: “estar como una regadera”. The literal meaning is “to be like a watering can”.