“Echar pelillos a la mar” literally translates to “to throw little hairs to the sea”. “Pelillos” has a colloquial meaning of “trifle”. Thus, the phrase means ” to let bygones be bygones” or “to bury the hatchet”.
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 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”.
When we order more food than we can eat, we use the phrase “to have eyes bigger than one’s belly”. The Spanish equivalent is similar “llenar el ojo antes que la barriga”, which literally translates to “to fill the eye before the belly”.
When someone is close to dying we might use the phrase “To be at death’s door” or “To have one foot in the grave”. One similar saying in Spanish is “Estar con el alma en la boca”, which literally means “To be with the soul in the mouth”.
“Ojos saltones” literally translates to “bulging eyes”. In English, we’d say “bug-eyed”.
In English, when a person is somewhat lacking in digital dexterity we might refer to him as a “butterfingers”. In Spanish, the equivalent would be “to have hands of rag” as in “tener manos de trapo”.
Because appearances may deceive, we say “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. In Spanish, one equivalent phrase is “Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos”, which translates literally to “Faces we see, hearts we do not know”.
Here’s another Spanish idiom involving “pelo”, which means “hair”: “No tener pelo de tonto” literally means “Not to have hair of a fool”. The colloquial equivalent is “To be nobody’s fool”.
When we hit upon a sensitive area we use the phrase “to touch upon a sore point” or “to hit a nerve”. A similarly themed Spanish saying is a bit stronger, as in “poner el dedo en la llaga”, which literally translates to “to put the finger in the wound”.
