Some “color” related idioms.
“Blanco como el papel” literally translates as “white as paper”. In English it would be “as white as a sheet”.
“Como de lo blanco a lo negro” means “as from the white to the black”. The colloquial equivalent in English is “as different as night and day”.
“Un mirlo blanco” means “a white blackbird”. In English we’d say “once in a blue moon”.
Let’s look at some idioms in English using the color white and see what the equivalents are in Spanish
“white lie” translates colloquially to “mentira piadosa” which literally means “compassionate lie”
“white as a sheet” in Spanish is “blanco como el papel” which translates to “white as paper”
Sometimes we describe a person as “white-bread” which has the connotation of plain and boring. Anyone know an equivalent in Spanish?
English: “To have the blues” We also “Sing the blues”
Spanish: “Tener ideas negras” which means “To have black ideas”
Other English equivalents: “To be down in the dumps” “To feel low”
Spanish Equivalent: “Tener murria” Murria means sadness
English: “To be green with envy”
Spanish: “Estar negro de envidia” In Spain one would be black with envy. I don’t know why green is the color of envy in English, but I do recall it being green in Othello (the green monster?).
In Spanish green caries another meaning, as in “Un viejo verde”, which means “Adirty old man”. A dirty joke is a “Chiste verde”. In English when we say someone is green, we mean that he/she is inexperienced.
