Here’s a nearly identical idiom: “free as a bird”, which in Spanish is “mas libre que un pajaro”. It is interesting to note that sayings in English like this one makes the comparison equivalent, whereas the Spanish version raises it a level, i.e. “freer than a bird”. This pattern recurs frequently in idioms or sayings that are similar in English and Spanish.
When handwriting is illegible we sometimes describe it as “scrawl” or “chicken scratch”. In Spanish it the term would be “hacer patas de mosca”, which literally means “to make legs of fly”.
When someone has had a little too much to drink we say he’s “tipsy” or “half-drunk”. In Spanish this person would be “between two lights”, as in “estar entre dos luces”.
When we’re very close to to completing something we might say “to be on the verge of” or “to be inches away”. An equivalent phrase in Spanish is “estar a dos dedos de algo”, which translates literally to “to be two fingers from something”.
In English we have several phrases to describe an event that is never going to happen, such as “never in a month of Sundays”, or “when hell freezes over”, or “when pigs have wings (and begin to fly)”. One equivalent in Spanish is “esperar la semana que no tenga (traiga) viernes”, which literally means “to wait for the week that doesn’t have Friday”.
In English, when we reprimand someone we might describe it as “giving someone a dressing down”. In Spanish, one equivalent is “to give a soap to someone”, as in “dar un jabon a alguien”.
Here’s a Spanish saying that is almost identical to its counterpart in English, “strike while the iron is hot”: “Al hierro candente batir de repente”, which means “to the hot iron strike right away”.
“Cada mochuelo a su olivo” literally translates to “each little owl to its olive tree”. The colloquial meaning is “everyone about his own business” or “everyone to his own home”.
When someone is going very fast, we might say he’s “going like a bat out of hell”. In Spanish, one equivalent is “va a toda pastilla”, which literally means “he’s going at full pill”.
In English we use the phrase “rotten to the core” to describe someone who is truly despicable. In Spanish such a person would be rotten to the marrow, as in “podrido hasta la medula”.
