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I've heard my friend say "me matas con cuchillito de palo" to his kid and I cannot figure out what it means. (I've googled it, and naturally google results are all over the map.) Usually the kid is acting up, but the way my friend says it does not sound like he's scolding or angry, only fed up.
How do I interpret this? Sometimes I watch his kid for him. Is this appropriate for me to say? (Cute kid, but kind of a snot sometimes.)
Thank you for your help.
A wooden knife cant cut, so it means that it would take a long time to kill someone with a wooden knife.
Which means that this is a constant issue with her kid, and while it wont kill her it is certainly annoying.
Just imagine yourself getting killed by a wooden knife, while it wont kill you, it will be very annoying while someone tries to do it.
or a more precise example:
kid is acting up
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
kid is acting up 20 min later...calms down
in this situation you might want to yell "STOP!" and you would be very annoyed.
Yes, the other answer is correct. In Spain that expression is also known, but not particularly used.
A small wooden knife doesn't cut at all, but it keeps ripping.
If your friend says that to his kid, it means that the kid is not behaving well and your friend is feeling like irritated since the kid is acting like a knife that doesn't cut but don't stop acting out.
It doesn't sound rude and it has not any kind of bad connotation.
