Let’s look at some terms involving nationalities
“Montana (montanya - I can’t do a tilde - the squiggle over the n) rusa” literally means “Russian mountain”, but is actually the Spanish term for “roller coaster”. In Spain there is also an “ensalada rusa” or “Russian salad” which I almost never ate, but which consists of potato and unconscionable amounts of mayonnaise.
“De pe a pa” I don’t think there is a literal translation, but the idiomatic meaning is:
“From top to bottom” or “From A to Z” or “From soup to nuts”
Here’s a nationality based idiom that may reveal something about the ancient cultures that we look to:
“Obra de Romanos” literally translates to “Work of Romans”. The equivalent in English is “Herculean task”
Let’s look at some idioms involving “ojos” = “eyes”
“Daria un ojo de la cara por …” literally means “I’d give an eye of the face for …”. In English we’d say “I’d give my right arm for …”
“Costar (valer) un ojo de la cara” literally translates to “To cost an eye of the face”. The English equivalent is “To cost an arm and a leg”
“Dichosos los ojos que te ven” means “Happy are the eyes that see you”. The counterpart in English is “You’re a sight for sore eyes”.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that there are many Spanish idioms involving hair or hairs. Here’s another one:
“Salvarse por los pelos”, literally meaning “To save oneself by the hairs”. The English equivalent is: “To escape by the skin of one’s teeth”.
“Sangrar como un becerro” literally translates to “To bleed like a calf”. The English equivalent is “To bleed like a stuck pig”. Here’s another animal based idiom: “Fuerte como un caballo” which means “Strong as a horse”. In English the equivalent is : “Strong as an ox” or “Strong as a bull”.
“Cada oveja con su pareja” literally means “Each sheep with her mate”. The colloquial translation is “Every Jack has his Jill”. This dictionary entry sounds British and antiquated. I suggest this instead: “Every person has his soulmate”.
Another animal related idiom is “Mas viejo que un loro” which translates literally to “Older than a parrot”. The English equivalent is “Older than the hills” or the more contemporary “Older than dirt”.
“No valer un higo” literally means “Not to be worth a fig”. The colloquial translation is “Not to be worth two cents”, although with inflation one also hears “It’s not worth a nickel”. My favorite is “It’s not worth squat”. Figs are not the only thing deemed insignificant. An alternative phrase is “No valer un pepino”. A pepino is a cucumber. One also hears “No me importa un pepino (tres pepinos)” which idiomatically translates to “I couldn’t care less”. This English phrase is troublesome since we also say “I could care less”. Which is it?
Here are two idioms with the word “chuleta” which literally means a “chop” of meat.
“Una chuleta” has a colloquial meaning of a “slap”
“Usar chuletas”, which literally translates to “To use chops” idiomatically means “To crib” or “To use crib sheets”
One Spanish snack I remember well is “churros”, a doughy deep fried preparation in the natureof a fritter. In the 60’s you would buy them from street vendors. I associate them with cold weather; the usual accompaniment would be a cup of thick hot chocolate. There are at least two Spanish idioms using “churro”.
“Esta pelicula es un churro” which literally translates to “This movie is a fritter”, the colloquial meaning being “This movie is a bomb”.
“Este gol ha sido un churro” means “This goal was a fritter”, and the idiomatic translation is “This goal was a fluke”. I don’t know why churros get a “bad rap”, but then I recall that in English we speak of “frittering away one’s time” to signify wasting one’s time. We also have the phrase “frittering away an opportunity”.
“Estar mosca” means literally “To be fly”. The colloquial meaning is nothing like the American colloquial term. It means “To be suspicious”. Another Spanish idiom involving flies is “Cazar (papar) moscas”. The literal translation is “To hunt flies” and the idiomatic meaning is “To daydream”. Another idiomatic phrase with flies is “Caer como chinches (moscas)” which is “To drop like flies” which is identical.
