17
votes
Equivalent expression for "straw that broke the camel's back"?
The most similar I can think of in Spanish would be
La gota que colma el vaso
The verb colmar (overfill) means
Llenar una medida, un cajón, un cesto, etc., de modo que lo que se echa en ellos ...
- 47.9k
15
votes
Where does the expression "no hay tu tía" come from?
It is a very popular and common misunderstanding. The word originally was tutía or atutía:
atutía
Del ár. hisp. attutíyya, este del ár. clás. tūtiyā['], y este del
sánscr. tuttha.
f. ...
- 77.3k
14
votes
Accepted
Where does the expression "no hay tu tía" come from?
You won't find that in the DLE under tía, but under tutía. The tutía or atutía was a healing salve used in ancient times, so no hay tutía means there is no remedy for that. Of course, tutía came in ...
- 10.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Spanish equivalent to "he can dish it out but he can't take it"
I don't know if there's a better way to say it, but in Spanish I would use the following:
Tiene la lengua afilada y la piel muy fina.
First, we have afilado which according to the dictionary has the ...
- 77.3k
14
votes
Accepted
"No se hable más" - Why the "se"?
That's an interesting usage of se. The verb hablar (as many others) can be used in an impersonal way if you don't want to specify who is talking about something or you just simply don't know who is ...
- 77.3k
13
votes
What is a good Spanish equivalent for "sledgehammer argument"?
To my ear
a sledge-hammer argument
is best translated as
un argumento demoledor
Since the verb demoler means to demolish, to knock-down
Del lat. demolīri.
Conjug. c. mover.
tr. Deshacer, ...
- 4,838
13
votes
Accepted
Spanish (Castillian) equivalent of "funny."
Amusing
Jose es un gran comediante. Es un tipo muy divertido.
Odd, unexpected, or undesired (We don't use funny in those cases).
Esta bebida sabe raro.
Mi coche hace un ruido muy raro.
...
- 4,532
13
votes
Accepted
Spanish phrase similar to "lay my cards on the table"
Yes, the phrase you're looking for is
'Poner las cartas sobre la mesa', a quite literal translation.
12
votes
Accepted
Is there a Spanish idiom equivalent to the English "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes"?
There are several options for this. One short, common choice is just a plain ni muerto ("not even dead").
—¿Te vienes a hacer puenting con nosotros?
—Ni muerto.
Starting from this you have ...
- 77.3k
11
votes
Accepted
¿De dónde viene la expresión "dar caña"?
El origen de esta expresión procede del movimiento de la caña (para incrementar la velocidad) que hay en las barcas en la parte posterior y se usa a modo de timón.
De modo que cuando das caña estás ...
- 803
11
votes
Accepted
How to say "he/she is a natural"?
Besides innato there is also the word nato defined like this:
Del lat. natus 'nacido'.
adj. Dicho de un título de honor o de un cargo: Que va anejo al empleo o a la calidad de alguien.
...
- 10.6k
10
votes
Translating the phrase "not nearly enough"
This makes me think on the idiom "Ni de lejos". This means "not even close", which in some cases can match what you are mentioning.
See an example:
-¿Has ganado la lotería?
Did you win the ...
- 34k
10
votes
Accepted
What’s the difference between “pelo” and “pierna”?
I note that Pelo is defined as hair. So in Spanish, is the idiom actually "You are pulling my hair?" but it's translated as leg to make more sense in English?
This is exactly the case. Pelo means ...
- 19.3k
10
votes
Accepted
How to translate "pinchando"?
Pinchar in this sentence just means "to click", see meaning 11 on DLE. The sentence means
By clicking on the question, you can access more detailed information with links to more thorough ...
wimi♦
- 12k
10
votes
Common terms for encouragement and cheering?
With slightly different meanings and applicable to different contexts:
¡Venga!, ¡vamos!, ¡anda!, ¡ándale!, ¡órale!, ¡dale!, ¡ánimo!, ¡aúpa!, ¡corre!...
- 2,117
9
votes
Accepted
Significado y gramática de "niñas bien"
Según el Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, la cuarta acepción de "bien" es la siguiente:
Como adjetivo invariable significa ‘de buena posición social’: «Vivían en Miraflores, balneario de la ...
- 6,211
9
votes
Accepted
¿Cuál es el origen de la palabra "menudo"?
Menudo, -da significa pequeño (-a). Proviene del latín, minutus, que es al mismo tiempo un adjetivo y el participio del verbo minuo, disminuir, empequeñecer. En pocas palabras, etimológicamente menudo ...
- 2,361
9
votes
Accepted
¿Cómo se llama en español a la parte trasera de una camioneta tipo pickup?
Yo de coches entiendo poco, pero según la Wikipedia en la entrada para pickup pone:
[...] tiene en su parte trasera una zona de carga descubierta (denominada caja, batea, carrocería, platón, cama o ...
- 77.3k
9
votes
¿Qué es "a la siga"?
Encontré el libro y parece ser editado por la Editorial Universitaria, que es chilena. Creo que este es un dato importante a destacar antes de mencionar la búsqueda.
Efectivamente, siga no aparece en ...
- 34k
9
votes
Accepted
Saying "X years ago today" in Spanish
I agree with the other answers, your choice of just "hoy, hace 77 años" is incorrect. What the other answers have not said is that the proper way to say this in Spanish (and by that I mean RAE's ...
- 77.3k
9
votes
Spanish equivalent to "he can dish it out but he can't take it"
One idiom we use in Spain is :
Puño de hierro, mandíbula de cristal. The direct translation in English would be: Iron fists, jaws made of glass.
8
votes
Hacer algo necesitase o no
The phrase:
... surgido de las urnas ...
means that that government was elected, but focusing in the fact that it was elected by vote (hence the word urnas).
So, that phrase is just a complement ...
- 6,211
8
votes
Posible origen de la frase "buen hombre"
La palabra española bonhomía es un galicismo que significa afabilidad, sencillez, bondad y honradez en el carácter y en el comportamiento según la RAE. Proviene del francés bonhomie, con el mismo ...
- 16.6k
8
votes
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¿"Antes de nada" o "antes que nada"?
Bueno, si hacemos caso a la RAE ambas son válidas (e incluso "antes de que").
Normalmente va seguido de un complemento precedido de la preposición de: "Quince días antes de su muerte [...]"
...
- 47.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "de más"
From RAE:
1.10. de más. [...] Locución adverbial que significa ‘de sobra, en demasía’: «Las cosas se amontonan... porque sobran... hay de más» (Pavlovsky Pablo [Arg. 1987]). Forma parte, asimismo, ...
- 6,228
8
votes
Accepted
¿Por qué cerramos las discusiones con un "y punto pelota"?
Tras realizar una búsqueda por internet sobre el origen de la expresión "y punto pelota", la explicación más plausible me parece la que expongo a continuación.
Citando una respuesta de éste foro, ...
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8
votes
Accepted
"Taking it easy" in Spanish
You can say tomárselo con calma/ tranquilidad, although it generally refers to how you embark on a new project or face a task:
I have to write a paper, but since the deadline is in two weeks I'm ...
- 6,228
8
votes
What is the meaning of "no era para echarse a morir"?
Here in Colombia when we say "echarse a morir" is used when a person is so depressed that just sits or lays doing nothing but waiting to die.
As you can imagine it usually does not end in actual ...
- 10.6k
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