Colloquialisms

I did a search for "slang" and found a previous post suggesting a thread about interesting expressions, unusual turns of phrase, etc.

I have always been fascinated by those (even in English--have you ever told a 3-year-old that it's "raining cats and dogs"?) and would love to hear from some of you about your favorites! I don't want to encourage all of us to start talking like 15-year-old Spanish kids (no offense to 15-year-olds in Spain or anywhere else, but they aren't always known for the most proper language use and some of their words/phrases aren't terribly long-lasting!), but it would be fun to share some of the expressions that might have us scratching our heads during a trip to Spain!

I'll offer up "vale," which seems to be my most often-used Spanish word...for all forms of "okay/fine/alright with me."

Others?
Tara

Ahh, don't get me started! One of my favorites is the expression my friend from Granada uses to express irritation, frustration, or whatever might require a "darn" type word. (To do this right you MUST have all your fingers touching, you must flick your wrist, and naturally, you must use the "theta" pronunciation!) Narices! (nostrils!)

Another favorite is the one for out in the boonies (as in "The place was so crowded I had to park way out in the boonies") El quinto carajo!

Instead of sweating like a pig, my friend sweats like a chicken ("estoy sudando como una gallina") because when a chicken is being roasted on a spit, it drips sweat!

I can see I'll be up all night thinking about these

taravb, I'm not as "versed" in Spanish outside of Madrid, but I'm pretty sure the term "vale" is mostly used in/around Madrid/Central Spain. Is this correct?

When my ladyfriend and I were touring Perú last Christmas/New Years there was a couple on one of our tours, seeing the Incan ruins, etcetera, whom my ladyfriend noticed. She listened and listened and told me (in English as we'd have a better chance of going unheard/understood) "The guy up there is from Madrid... or more likely from Móstoles." I thought, "WHAT?! Different Madrid neighborhoods/suburbs have their own phrases/sayings??!! WOW!"

Saludos, MadridMan

he he he... i guess this colloqiualism could be considered a rather naught one... 'llevar a la huerta.' anyone know what that means? i'll buy a mahou for whomever can diplomatically define that one!

oh yeah, i just remembered one that is typical of la mancha... 'pasante.' this is someone who gossips excessively. makes sense...

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 03-16-2001).]

Llevar a la huerta literally translates to: 'to take to the garden.' The person who tells you: "lleveselo a la huerta" is saying what you offer is something that would serve better as fertilizer. English equivalent - loosely translated: 'bulls**t!'

Sorry, I don't know any more diplomatic way of explaining that. Do I still qualify for a caña of Mahou?

[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 03-16-2001).]

Vale is also use in Sevilla - my friends there use it all the time.

Some great ones I've come across:

"Vete a freír espárragos" (Get lost)
"cuento chino" (tall tale: 'Chinese story')
"el quinto pino" (the boonies)
"vete a la porra" (get lost again) > a porra is also a billy club..."go to the billy club"?
"comerse el coco" (brainwash) > literally "eat your head (coco)"
and every HS student's favorite: "tirarse un pedo" ('throw' a fart...you figure out the logistics on that one).

In addition, I notice the phrase "me cago" followed by a wide variety of items that seem to be the destination and final resting place of the speaker's feces. Here are some gems:

...en la leche
...en la mar
...en la p**a
...en diez (What the heck is that???)
...en (insert name of deity here)
...en la virgen que me apareció esta mañana (that one brought to you courtesy of a little old lady named Argentina from Avilés (Asturias))...A+ for creativity there...

I'll rack my brain for more fun...this is a great idea for a thread!

me cachis en diez is like saying 'heck' and 'darn'. It is, in fact, a euphimism for the deity. "Me cago en Dios." EXTREMELY VULGAR!! You can also take a dump on the holy host, on the 50th kilometre of your father's horns (aka cuernos), etc.

you can also cagar en todos los antepasados de cualquier persona!

Gotta love ¡Ostia! o ¡Ostias! or if you don't want to offend the god fearin' folk, you can say, "ostras"

more later-



[This message has been edited by Jen (edited 03-16-2001).]

I believe llevar a alguien al huerto has a sexual meaning - To carry someone off to private place for, well, private things!

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 03-16-2001).]

To bring these back around to things that can be said in front of (or to) your abuela, I remember that to be an "aguafiestas" meant to be a wet blanket or party pooper.

And beer-related language isn't something we learn in high school--I can't recall anyone EVER ordering a "cerveza" in Spain--always a caña (small draft) or tubo (slightly larger draft). And I remember that "estar piripi" meant to be tipsy (not quite drunk).

I have a list of these sorts of things, from my stay in Salamanca in 1990, on a sheet of paper labeled "things to remember." I'll pull it out and share those as well.

[This message has been edited by taravb (edited 03-16-2001).]

"Llevar al huerto" means you are getting the better end of the deal, that's the polite meaning...Mi marido madrileño won't let me print the more vulgar meaning.

Oh my goodness. hahahahaa.. I can JUST imagine all the school teachers out there who use this board as a teaching tool. Think about all the phrases they'll be using in class next week. ARGH! Hahahaa... I've heard my ladyfriend use the "Me cago en su padre" and also says, as rgf does, "....en dios" is TRULY vulgar, practically the worst thing you say. I find particularly funny the "...en todos los antepasados de cualquier persona!"

I think Tara was thinking about colloquialisms in general, not just swear words.

I wouldn't recommend Spanish teachers to teach them since you need a deep knowledge of Spanish to be able to use them properly. Otherwise, it sounds funny or you can even make people angry with you. It could be dangerous. Just think about the difference between de puta madre and tu puta madre.

Anyway, I guess it's kind of fun to teach them or show them a few swear words just to let them know.

As for the expression llevar a alguien al huerto I would considered an old-fashioned one. (By the way is "huerto" not "huerta").

Although you could say "me cago en tus antepasados" (in Spanish you can **** on many different things ), what we sometimes say it's "me cago en tus muertos".

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 03-16-2001).]

ok, not bad eddie and others... i guess i owe a Mahou or two. cheers!

but i was definitely looking for the definition implying the 'carnal implications.' not everyone knows that one... (whoops! i meant to include that my diplomatic definition was 'a roll in the hay.' )

antonio, my friends had all taught me 'llevar a la HUERTA.' what's the difference? is it possible that there are other ways of saying the same thing in this case? regionalisms? i learned this from friends in la mancha...

awrite, just tell me where to send the mahou's i owe you...



[This message has been edited by mahou_fan (edited 03-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by mahou_fan (edited 03-16-2001).]

'Hacer una putada' is a colloquialism that I especially like - 'Me has hecho una putada bien grande' would mean 'you really screwed me big time.'

As with many 'old world' cities (London, for example), Madrileños often speak in refranes (refrains) such as 'Puta la madre y puta la hija y puta la manta que las cobija,' which says that such things run in families. On the syntax charts, refrains may be one level above colloquialisms.

for Calibasco:
The way it was explained to me: 'vete a la pura' (not porra) is a shorter, more polite way of saying 'vete a la mierda.' Sort of like 'hija de la gran ... Bretania,' instead of something more unacceptable.


[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 03-17-2001).]

I would think your friends were taking the piss out of you. I have never heard of "huerta" in that expression. Why?. I don't know. It's just they way it is. They are fixed expressions.

---

Eddie, I didn't know "Puta la madre..." was a refrain. It's an expression used by Cervantes (I can't tell you in which book it appears), but I have never heard anyone using it.

What a good idea for a post! I had almost forgotten about Ostias/ostras.

As for "vale," I lived with a family in Spain that used that ALL the time, so I started to also. One of my Spanish friends was eventually nice enough to explain that it was used often but not as much as I was using it. As it turns out, one of the kids in the house was named "Valentino," nicknamed "vale" for short - (can you tell I am bad at names? I went a month and a half before realizing what his was). This accounted ofr my extreme overuse of the term as I thought it often came before "pass me the bread, where are you going? etc.

[This message has been edited by Nicole (edited 03-17-2001).]

Antonio:
I have a paperback book: Refranero Español; Madrid, Ediciones Ibericas, 1968. Its 481 pages contain more than 8.000 popular refrains - that's where I got 'Puta la Madre'

¿No me digas? ¡Cuenta, Cuenta!

As for Cervantes - since he was from Alcala de Henares (Madrid), maybe he used refrains also?

Nicole, thanks for my laugh of the day! That sounds exactly like something I would do.

Here are the promised "things to remember" from my 1990 stay in Salamanca:

"A cada cerdo le llega su San Martín" means "every dog has his day."

"Estar con el agua al cuello" means "to have your back to the wall."

"Tomando el pelo" means "pulling one's leg."

"Aguar la fiesta/ser un aguafiestas" means "to be a wet blanket."

"Beber como una cuba" means "to drink like a fish."

"De mil amores" means "with great pleasure/con muchissimo gusto."

"Caer del burro" means "to see the light."

"Beber mano a mano" is for two people to drink very quickly.

"Decir tacos" is "to curse/use obscenities."

"Ser un gamberro" is "to be a troublemaker."

"Ir al otro barrio" means "to die."

"La juerga" means "the party."

"Estar por las nubes" is "to be very expensive."

"Estar en la luna" means "to be spaced out."

"Tener mucha marcha" means "to feel like partying/going out."

And one of my favorite words: columpios=swingset

And a silly piropo:
"Que curvas y yo sin frenos," which means "what curves and me without brakes..."

More, folks? These are fun!
Tara

And here's a (supposedly old Spanish) saying I have used from time to time when teaching college classes on social policy: "Three Spaniards, four opinions."

(Here's the insulting--to Americans--follow-up I always have in my head: "Four Americans, two opinions." But I don't say that one, and my students would probably sleep through it if I did.)

Okay...porra was not a misuse, Eddie...mis oídos no me engañaron on that one. Here are some more:

Tough guy:
>Más duro que seis pesetas

When walking, you take:
>El coche de San Fernando, uno a pie y otro andando

Brown-nosing:
>Hacer la pelota, or chupar medias (chupamedias)

and if you're under 18, close your eyes...I've never understood this one:

Slang term for bathroom:
>Cagódromo (yes, I've got tickets to the "Poop-o-Drome"). Sounds like a Mad Max sequel in Spanish: "Max Enfadado, Más Allá del Cagódromo".

Masturbate:
>Hacer la paja (make hay? c'mon!)

My friends that I met in Salamanca and I made a journal with our funny experiences (when Susana was so drunk Raquel had to climb under the bathroom door to get her.... when Susana tried to be the portera at a club and told everyone "Zapatillas no!" etc ) But anyway, we titled the book "Vale, venga, 'sta luego" based on the most common things we heard. "Vaya" and "anda" were also enjoyable. As for refranes: we learned "Un grano no hace granero" meaning don't stereotype, "No seas gallego" although I can't remember what that one meant (Antonio?), and "La miel no está hecha para la boca del cerdo" to say to creepy guys who attempt piropos.

Hey, Majesty, I love that last one! This is a bit off topic, but are piropos dying out? (Eek...or am I getting too old to elicit them?)

I remember them being a much bigger deal (like people talked about them a lot) when I was in Salamanca in 1990 than during more recent trips to Spain (even without my marido and WITH my gorgeous blonde sister).

well, antonio, i'm understand what you were saying about 'taking the piss out of me,' but i don't think that's a fixed expression!

here's another one i like, 'cabrearse.' to 'get pissed off.' ej, 'me cabrean los hijos de #$*# que hacen eso...'

you teachers out there be sure to teach these to your class, now...

mahou_fan,

i too learned 'llevar a la huerta' and would give it a similar definition as you did...

it's basically a saying from way out in the country... i have heard it in madrid, tho, too...

My favourite, said by the camarero as he wipes the bar, "?Que le pongo, caballero?"

I want to apologize for some of the content on my last post. I'm not sure how sensitive everyone is on this board, and actually, I looked at my own post and thought "why did you put that!" to myself. MM, if you want to edit, please be my guest. I guess I thought I was educating you folks in case you heard it on the streets...which is where I'm sure I first heard it. Thank you for understanding. I wouldn't want to offend any on this board, as I'm quite an avid member!

May be you have heard of a booklet they used to sell at vips which contained the literal translation of most of the refranes, when I say literal is literal. The title was "From loss to the river" ----> (De perdidos al rio)
It is a lot of fun, some of the sentences have even got into the slang of Madrid.

Some other proverbs,

- "No por mucho madrugar amanece mas temprano"
- "A quien madruga Dios le ayuda
- "La avaricia rompe el saco"
- "arrieritos somos y por el camino nos encontraremos", in other words, life is long, world is small and I'll get you some other time.

oh here's another:

'ajo y agua' = short for 'a joderse y a aguantarse' the best translation i can think of is 'to shut up and put up with...,' 'too bad,' etc...

i should add, 'deal with it..' to the definition..

[This message has been edited by mahou_fan (edited 03-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 03-21-2001).]

Mahou_Fan, I LOVE that one- my husband always says it to me...wonder why? Another favorite is, El que se fue a Sevilla, perdió su silla. Habitat was using that in an ad campaign of theirs a few years ago. Cute!

Lovely topic...I'm amazed at how many of these we use in Puerto Rican slang...although we have expanded on the whole "me cago en ..." idea...heh heh...
--
E

No te preocupes, Calibasco.
There are a lot of Mexican students at our school - I mean FROM Mexico,not just of Mexican heritage, many don't speak much English yet and they've been the greatest source of "iffy" slang for my students. Whenever one of my students asks me to tell him how to say something marginally "bad", I tell him to make friends with one of the kids from Mexico and learn some Spanish from him. It's actually kind of good for the non-Mexican kids to learn some real street Spanish, that way they feel more confident trying to speak Spanish to those native speakers. I know of one girl who really surprised a young Mexican boy when he said something inappropriate to her in slang - she responded - in Spanish! He never did it again...but they're friends now.