Spanish Idiom September 28, 2007

We’ve all had the experience of staying at a terrible hotel. In English we would describe it as a “flea bag hotel”. In Spanish the equivalent is a “hotel of bad death” or “hotel de mala muerte”.

Spanish Idiom September 27, 2007

When we want someone to shut up, in English we say “Button your lip”. In Spanish they go a little farther, as in “Cosete la boca” which literally means “Sew up your mouth”.

Spanish Idiom September 26, 2007

When we have to go somewhere at high speed, in English we might say that we have “to hoof it”. In Spanish one might say “ir en el coche de San Fernando” which literally translates to “to go in Saint Fernando’s carriage”.

Spanish Idiom September 25, 2007

“Ser un plomo” literally means “To be lead”. The colloquial meaning is “To be a bore, a pest or a drag”. This is reminiscent of the saying in English about jokes, “It went over like a lead balloon”.

Spanish Idiom September 24, 2007

Let’s lok at a couple of pejorative terms for two professions. In English an incompetent or fraudulent doctor is known a s a “quack”. In Spanish, the term is “curandero”. A lawyer who engages in questionable or unethical professional behavior is a “shyster”. A lawyer who improperly looks for cases is an “ambulance chaser”. The closest equivalent in Spanish is a “picapleitos” from “picar” which means to “poke” or “stir” and “pleitos” which means “lawsuits”.

Spanish Idiom September 21, 2007

When we’re really tired, in English we say we’re “beat” or “worn out”. In Spanish one might say “estar molido”, which literally means “to be ground down”.  When you go to the supermarket you might notice that “ground coffee” is “cafe molido”.  My Spanish brother-in-law has another saying for being very tired, “Estoy hecho una braga”, the literal translation of which is “I’m made a panty”.

Spanish Idiom September 20, 2007

In Spanish, to describe something as being really easy, one might hear “Mas facil que beber un vaso de agua”. This literally means “Easier than drinking a glass of water. Equivalent sayings in English are “As easy as falling off a log” or “As easy as pie”.

Spanish Idiom Saying September 19, 2007

Spanish has many sayings and idioms involving fruit. Here are two:

“Pedirle peras al olmo” literally translates to “To ask the elm tree for pears”. Not surprisingly, the colloquial meaning is “To ask for the impossible”.

“Estar de mala uva” literally means “To be of bad grape”. The idiomatic translation is “To be in a bad mood”.

Spanish Idiom September 18, 2007

In English, when we want to hide something dirty from others we use the saying “To sweep something under the rug (carpet)”.  The equivalent saying in Spanish is “Correr un velo sobre algo”, which means “To run a veil over something”.

Spanish Idiom September 14, 2007

“Estar mas sordo que una tapia” literally translates to “To be more deaf than a fence”. The equivalent in English is perhaps a bit more economical” “To be as deaf as a post”.