holdouttrout: not your ordinary fish (Default)
holdouttrout ([personal profile] holdouttrout) wrote2008-03-03 08:14 am
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Dangerously Daring: The Spanish Edition

Languages are always important for a dangerously daring person to know. For instance, it is vitally important that, should you travel to a foreign country, you can ask where the bathroom is, and also be able to tell someone you love them. Everything else can be covered with pointing and charades.

Now, the boy's book has Latin phrases, which are interesting, but not terribly useful. And the girl's book has Spanish phrases, which are useful but not particularly interesting--except for the Spanish equivalent of "The real McCoy," which makes me crack up. So I went with Spanish and decided to do a (very little) bit more research.

Oh, yes. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself: She is going to talk about Spanish vocab words, which I have no use for at all. Why bother clicking on the cut?

Because I'm going to give you some unusual Spanish phrases, that's why.



English Equivalent Literal English Spanish
The real McCoy The real, real potato seller El mero, mero patatero
I don't get it! It doesn't fit in my head! ¡No me cabe en la cabeza!
He's so old he can barely walk. He's falling of age. Se cae de viejo.
To get goose bumps lit. "the flesh of a hen" ponerse la carne de gallina


Other useful phrases to know (taken from "Wicked Spanish for the Traveler"* are:

English Spanish
When did the brakes go out? ?Cuando se fueron los frenos?
You make me hot, my chili pepper. Me calientas mucho, chilito mio.


Because you can never know when super brake-cutting spies or love will strike.

*Please, don't attempt to use any of the phrases from this book. They are, usually, Really Bad Spanish and also can be very culturally insensitive. Not to mention difficult to remember.



In the comments, if you have unusual phrases you think everyone should know, you should share them.
ext_2677: (vague that up)

[identity profile] la-tante.livejournal.com 2008-03-03 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
i have a couple for you. well a few (french teacher here) if you say: je suis chaud(e) i am hot--it is a sexual thing. not to be done. same for je suis plein(e) i am full would be i am pregnant. also to be avoided. and my favorite idiomatic phrase en français of all time is il pleut comme une vach qui pisse: it's raining like a pissing cow. hmm and just in my travels be careful of asking for a ride in the uk. you'd be better off asking for a lift. oh i love language!
ext_2677: (Default)

[identity profile] la-tante.livejournal.com 2008-03-03 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
sorry vache has an -e at the end. can't let a typo go even in french!
ext_2131: picture of a fish with lots of green (Default)

[identity profile] holdouttrout.livejournal.com 2008-03-03 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Isn't language a lot of fun? Oh, the trouble one can acquire with just a few handy phrases...