The Spanish equivalent of English sayings

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Matilda

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Here are just a few of my favourites!! Not sure if they are true - they are what Mr Mat says!!

1. In English if we see cows lying down in a field we say it is going to rain. Mr Mat says here if cows lie down it is because they are tired.

2. English - someone who never has to work and is born into riches has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Here they are called an auyama (pumpkin) as are born with a flower in their bottom.

3. English - someone who is lucky, falls into a pile of sh*t and comes up smelling of roses. In spanish they are a salami???!!! This is because salamis are hung up in colmado bya piece of string, but because the string is not around their neck and they have not been strangled - they are lucky!!!

4. Someone who never sleeps - no idea in English but here you are a prawn. If a prawn sleep it gets washed up by the tide and dies, hence someone who is working night and day is a prawn.

5. English - happy as a pig in sh*t,- here, happy as a worm as a worm lives in the earth which is eats as well so never goes hungry as is surrounded by food.

6. English if you have everything sorted it is all tied up - here the goat (female ie chiva) is tied up!!

Think that is it for now. Anyone have any more!!



matilda
 
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AnnaC

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Hi Mat,
I take it you are not looking for a Spanish translation for those. We have a thread called, Dominican sayings or something like that. I'll try and find it.
 
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whirleybird

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Matilda said:
Here are just a few of my favourites!! Not sure if they are true - they are what Mr Mat says!!

1. In English if we see cows lying down in a field we say it is going to rain. Mr Mat says here if cows lie down it is because they are tired.

2. English - someone who never has to work and is born into riches has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Here they are called an auyama (pumpkin) as are born with a flower in their bottom.

3. English - someone who is lucky, falls into a pile of sh*t and comes up smelling of roses. In spanish they are a salami???!!! This is because salamis are hung up in colmado bya piece of string, but because the string is not around their neck and they have not been strangled - they are lucky!!!

4. Someone who never sleeps - no idea in English but here you are a prawn. If a prawn sleep it gets washed up by the tide and dies, hence someone who is working night and day is a prawn.

5. English - happy as a pig in sh*t,- here, happy as a worm as a worm lives in the earth which is eats as well so never goes hungry as is surrounded by food.

6. English if you have everything sorted it is all tied up - here the goat (female ie chiva) is tied up!!

Think that is it for now. Anyone have any more!!



matilda
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Number 5 - worm in the earth is my favourite but they all make me laugh!!! :bunny::bunny::bunny::bunny::bunny:
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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In the DR they say " I'm not working for the English" meaning I'm not working hard for little reward. My part of Canada we say working for the Dutch, meaning they expect you to be a slave for minimum wage.
 
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Matilda

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AnnaC said:
Hi Mat,
I take it you are not looking for a Spanish translation for those. We have a thread called, Dominican sayings or something like that. I'll try and find it.
Click to expand...


I know the spanish but it is just interesting how things are so different. In English it is raining cats and dogs (which comes from 16th Century(??) when cats and dogs lived in the roofs of the houses where the rats were and jumped down when it rained, in french (or is it german??) they say raining old women and sticks!!! I am just looking for things that we say all the time, like full of beans, but how they say them here.

matilda
 
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? bient?t

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Baseball talk

Here's a Yogism (from baseball's Yogi Berra): It ain't over 'till it's over

D.R.'s equivalent: La pelota es redonda y viene en caja cuadrada
 
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? bient?t

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If your feces don't stink in the U.S., then in the D.R. you are la ?ltima Coca Cola en el desierto, y crees que cagas bizcochitos y meas Pepsi Cola

If you make a mountain out of a molehill, then te ahogas en un vaso de agua
 
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PeterInBrat

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Spanish Pronto!: Dichos, Refranes, Sayings, Proverbs

De tal palo, tal astilla.
From such a stick, such a splinter.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

A Dios rogando y con el mazo dando.
Praying to God and hitting with the hammer
Trust in Jesus, but lock your doors(?)
maybe "Don't force it, get a bigger hammer"

El mal escribano le echa la culpa a la pluma.
The poor writer places the blame on the pen
It's a poor worker that blames his tools.

Si mi abuelita tuviera ruedas, ser?a bicicleta
If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bicycle
::response to "gee, if I had another heart, I would have had a flush"::

Any equivalent to this?
It's better to have a big bowl and a little mess, than a little bowl and a big mess.
 
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woofsback

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when i'm angry

i hope none take offence to this..
it's my politest way of swearing at someone who's gotten under my skin

ap?rcelo donde el sol no brilla
park it where the sun don't shine
 
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M.A.R.

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Matilda said:
2. English - someone who never has to work and is born into riches has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Here they are called an auyama (pumpkin) as are born with a flower in their bottom.



Think that is it for now. Anyone have any more!!



matilda
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hummm I think its "Ese nacio con la flor de ahuyama en el c*lo."
 
bachata

bachata

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Equivalent in the DR:
A rich guy jugging on the streets of Santo Domingo city = That's a guy doing exercises.
A poor guy jugging on the streets of Santo Domingo = that's robber running away from the police..:squareeye

JJ
 
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Marianopolita

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That's the beauty of language and expressions, they often differ from one to another

What I always have found interesting about expressions from one language to language is not so much how the equivalent from one to another can be quite different but how one has more impact in one as compared to another at least that's how it is for me anyway. Depending on what I want to express sometimes I find the expression in Spanish has more weight than the equivalent in English and vice versa.

Examples of what I mean are:

- these ones in Spanish I use and in my opinion the English equivalent (if there is one) does not carry the same weight (for me and the way I express myself):

● no se puede tapar el sol con un dedo- for me this is best in Spanish, I am not aware of an English equivalent (not a translation)

● un clavo saca otro clavo- same as above. There are few suggested equivalents to this expression but in Spanish it has more impact in my opinion.

● llover sobre mojado- (one of my favourites) to describe a situation that is already bad and just continues going downhill (mostly due to unpredictable or unforeseeable circumstances).


Matilda, here is one that fits into your scheme and shows the difference in nuance from language to language:

● llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino- to call a spade a spade. The equivalent English expression refers to a totally different object/ item compared to Spanish but both expressions carry the same equivalent meaning.


-MP.
 
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