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y es por eso que si vienen palos,
yo seré el primero en dar
This is from the lyrics of a song. I do understand the meaning of the words but a literal translation doesn't make any sense ("... if sticks come ..."). Is this a metaphor or a figure of speech?
It is kind of an expression. It could be roughly translated to "if there is going to be fighting, I will be the first to hit".
There is an expresion Te voy a moler a palos that will translate to something like "I will grind you to pieces".
Palo it is literally a stick. In that sense the full sentence would be "If people are coming with sticks to hit me, I would be the first to hit", but it does not have to be literally sticks, just an aggression either figurative or literal.
