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Does Spanish have a saying that basically means

To a person who is ready to understand or undertake something, any subtle signalling of it is sufficient.

(Taken from phrase finder)

The phrase is generally used when talking about illegal or sexually explicit behaviour.

Google Translate gives:

de un gesto tan bueno como un guiño

But I'm guessing that doesn't have the same connotation.

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  • A literal trasnlation would be: «un cabeceo es tan bueno como un guiño», although we don't have a good one word translation for “nod”, probably «gesto» will be better than «cabeceo». Just to correct Google Translate, not really an answer. Dec 17, 2013 at 20:26

1 Answer 1

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There are several expressions that could fit into your description, not literally but close to it on meaning. However, none of this is mainly applicated to illegal or sexually explicit behaviour although they could definitively be.

"Sobran las palabras", literally "No words needed".

"A buen entendedor, pocas palabras bastan", this is a proverb, literally is something like "Few words are needed to a good listener".

"Yo no digo nada, que luego todo se sabe", this is also a proverb, it translates to something like "I won't say anything, because otherwise everybody will know it", this is very... familiar, use it with caution, it could sound a bit redneck depending on your listener.

The expression you are asking for is very curious, because the standard way I'll communicate it would be just to wink an eye. :D

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  • +1 for "A buen entendedor, pocas palabras bastan". Very popular and often used.
    – rsuarez
    Dec 20, 2013 at 12:02

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