… tell it "no nor nothing"?
"Si la vida te dice no, dile no ni ná"
I assume "ná" is "nothing," but the overall meaning escapes me.
Is it anything like "when life gives you lemons"? (Doesn't seem so to me.)
2 Answers
It's used to encourage optimism and be positive about life when someone feels like a victim of misfortune and rebels against that reality. It's a triple negative that means 'I don't accept that.' I refuse to believe that what happens is out of your control.
"Say 'yeah, right' when life says no." (sarcastically) Sí, como no(burlándose en la desgracia, con sorna).
"Say 'yes, I can.' when life says no." Sí, puedo con eso (en rebeldía)
ná = nada = nothing; ni = nor; no = no; ¡No ni ná! = The hell I'm not! = yeah, right!
José María Pérez Orozco was a writer and professor of Spanish Language and Literature, and a firm defender of the Andalusian way of speaking. In an interview in the Andalusian regional TV channel, Canal Sur, he stated the following:
Resulta que cuando tú le preguntas a un amigo tuyo, por ejemplo, «Antonio, ¿este año vas a ir al Rocío?», y dice: «No ni na». Y si tú te fijas bien, esa frase son tres negaciones: «No-ni-na». Y es la mayor afirmación que hay en el andaluz. Cuando una persona te dice «No ni na», no te quepa duda de que es que sí. [...] Cuando tú dices «no ni na», estás diciendo: la primera, «no voy a dejar de ir al Rocío»; «ni aunque llueva, truene o ventee»; «na me va a impedir que vaya». Todo eso resumido en tres sílabas.
The most important thing to understand is that no ni na is the biggest affirmation a person can say, similar to «que no qué va», despite the expression being three negations. No ni na is without a trace of doubt a "yes". So your sentence can be understood just as:
If life tells you no, you say "yes".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| no voy a dejar de ir al Rocío | I shall go to El Rocío whatever it happens |
| ni aunque llueva, truene o ventee | even if it rains, storms or the wind blows |
| na me va a impedir que vaya | nothing's going to stop me |
Note that the previous sentence is just an example of the true meaning behind the no ni na expression, and not its true origin.
