Spanish: “Esas son habas contadas” Literal meaning is “Those are counted beans” English equivalents are “It’s a sure thing”, “It’s in the bag” and the now infamous “It’s a slam dunk”. Apropos of the last saying, who in the White House was capable of making a slam dunk?
In English we use the phrase “To twiddle one’s thumbs” to signify that we’re lounging about or being in between activities. In Spanish the equivalent phrase would be “Rascarse la barriga” which literally means “To scratch one’s belly”
Here’s an idiom in English that has a slightly different Spanish counterpart:
“To have a screw loose” The Spanish equivalent is “Faltarle a uno un tornillo” which means “To be missing a screw”
English: “To lie through one’s teeth”
Spanish: “Mentir con toda la barba” which literally means “To lie with the whole beard”
We’ll see over time that there are many Spanish idioms involving beards and hair.
In English there are two idioms that come to mind to describe an “all out” fight:
“To fight tooth and nail” and “To fight hammer and tong”. Here are two Spanish idioms to the same effect:
“Luchar a brazo partido” which literally means “To fight to a broken arm”
“Defenderse como gato panza arriba” which literally translates to “To defend oneself like a cat belly up”
English: “To have the blues” We also “Sing the blues”
Spanish: “Tener ideas negras” which means “To have black ideas”
Other English equivalents: “To be down in the dumps” “To feel low”
Spanish Equivalent: “Tener murria” Murria means sadness
“No hay que vender la piel del oso antes de haberlo matado” Literal translation is “You shouldn’t sell the bearskin before having killed the bear”.
English Equivalent: “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”
Another Spanish saying meaning the same is “Eso es el cuento de la lechera” which means “That’s the tale of the milkmaid”
In English we use the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. The Spanish Equivalent is: “No se gano Zamora en una hora” which means “Zamora wasn’t won in an hour”. Zamora is a city in Spain. In English we have another idiom involving Rome: “When in Rome, do as the Romans”. Spanish has a nearly identical saying: “Cuando a Roma fueres, haz lo que vieres” which literally translates as “When you go to Rome, do as you see”.
Spanish: “Mas chulo que un ocho” Literally translates as “Cockier than an eight”. I have no idea about the significance, if any, of the number eight. The dictionary has the English equivalent as “Prouder than a peacock”.
“Chulo” is one of those words whose meaning varies, sometimes wildly, from country to country. In Spain it is a derogatory term that can mean a lower class person from Madrid, someone’s who’s cocky or impudent. It is also used to mean a pimp, as in “chulo de putas”. In South America it may mean “nice” or “pretty”.
Spanish: “Hacer el ganso” means literally “To act the goose”
English Equivalent: “To act the goat”
