Here are two billiards related words that show up in colloquial speech. “Cometer una pifia” means “to commit a miscue”. The colloquial translation is “to goof up”. “Retaco” can mean “short cue” or “sawed off shotgun”. The slang meaning, when applied to a person, is “shorty”.
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30Jun
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29Jun
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When we’re in a tight spot we might use the phrase “to have one’s neck in a noose”. Spanish has a nearly identical phrase: “estar con el dogal al cuello”, which translates literally to “to be with the noose to the neck”.
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25Jun
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“Tener décimas” means “to have tenths”. The phrase refers to tenths of a degree (celsius). The colloquial meaning is “to have a slight fever”.
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24Jun
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When something surprising and positive occurs we say “hurrah!” or “I’ll be damned!”. One counterpart in Spanish is “¡Viva la Pepa!”, which means “long live Pepa!”. Pepa is a diminutive of Josefa. “Pepe”, a common name in Spain, is the diminutive of José.
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23Jun
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“Darle siete vueltas a la lengua antes de hablar” translates to “to give the tongue seven turns before speaking”. The given equivalent phrase in English is “to mind one’s Ps and Qs”.
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22Jun
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When a severe beating or disastrous defeat is inflicted upon someone we might use the phrase “to make mincemeat out of someone”. The Spanish equivalent is identical: “hacer picadillo”.
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21Jun
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“Tener (traer) cola” literally means “to have (carry) tail”. The idiomatic sense is “to have serious consequences” or “to bring trouble”.
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18Jun
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“Aquí te quiero ver, escopeta” literally translates to “here I want to see you, shotgun”. The colloquial meaning is “”show us what you can do”.
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17Jun
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A couple of idioms employing “puchero”, which means “cooking pot”. “Ganarse el puchero” means “to earn the cooking pot”. In English we’d say “to earn one’s daily bread” or perhaps “to bring home the bacon”. “Hacer pucheros” translates to “to make cooking pots”. The colloquial meaning is “to pout”.
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16Jun
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Here’s a slang phrase uttered when someone doesn’t see something obvious: “ves menos que Pepe Leches”. The translation is “you see less than Joe Milks”.