We all know the French saying “C’est la vie”. In English, we might say: “That’s the way the cookie crumbles”. Spaniards use a sports based phrase: “Asi es el futbol”, which means “That’s the way soccer is”.
In previous postings we have seen Spanish versions of the saying “To fall out of the frying pan into the fire”. Here is another one that is religious based: “Andar de Herodes a Pilato”, which means “To go from Herod to Pilate”.
In English, a cat is said to have nine lives. Apparently, in Spain their luck runs out a little sooner since they only have seven, as in “Tener siete vidas como un gato”.
Here’s a saying that rhymes in both English and Spanish: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. The Spanish version is “A diario una manzana es cosa sana”, which translates literally to “Daily an apple is a healthy thing”.
In English, we have several ways of describing hearty laughter: “To laugh one’s head off”; “To laugh until one’s sides split”; and “to bust a gut laughing”. One Spanish equivalent is “Reirse a mandibula batiente”, which ;iterally translates to “To laugh to banging jawbone”.
Nose(s) or “nariz” “narices” is the subject of many Spanish idioms and sayings. Here are two: “Estar hasta las narices de …” literally translates to “To be up to the noses of …”. The colloquial meaning is “to be fed up”. In English one hears “I’ve had it up to here”, but the location given is not the nose, but usually the neck. “Hacer algo por narices” literally translates to “to do something by noses”. The colloquial translation is “to do something because one feels like it”.
In previous postings we’ve seen how to say “once in a blue moon” in Spanish. Here’s another version with a religious twist: “cada muerte de obispo”, which literally translates to “each death of bishop”.
A couple of sea “mar” related sayings. “Quien no se arriesga no pasa la mar” literally translates to “He who does not risk himself does not cross the sea”. The equivalent in English is “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Note that mar can be “el mar” or “la mar”. “Arar en el mar” means to “To plow in the sea”. This saying describing a futile effort has a similar counterpart in English: “To plow in the sands”.
“Meterse hasta los codos en un asunto” literally translates to “To put oneself up to the elbows in a matter”. It appears that the equivalents in English aim a little higher” “To get into something up to one’s neck” or “To be up to one’s eyeballs in something”.
Here’s an idiom that combines food and flower: “La flor y la nata” literally means “The flower and the cream”. The idiomatic equivalents in English are: “The pick of the bunch” or “the pick of the litter”. In colloquial English we also use the French “creme de la creme”, which is closer to the Spanish phrase.
