holdouttrout

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.