Following on from my post re a 'gota':

Quote:

wrote on Jun 11th, 2016 at 8:26pm: . It says 16 gotas so what is a gota  ? A gota is a drop, una gota. Examples, gotas de lluvia - rain drops, gotas para ojos - eye drops. There is also a saying when just a few drops of rain have fallen - 'Ni ha caido cuatro gotas' - barely 4 drops have fallen. Also another saying when you only want a small amount of wine is 'Dame una gota de vino' or alternatively, 'Un dedo de vino' - a finger (thickness) of wine.

Here are a few more gems..

As in English the Spanish have many sayings 'refranes', tongue twisters 'trabalenguas' (literally working tongues) and jokes 'chistes'.

In English a rude joke is referred to as a blue joke, curiously in Spanish it's a green joke - chiste verde.

There are many jokes that are plays on words with double meaning so literally translated mean nothing.

A favourite example of mine is:
Que hace un pato con una pata?

Literally translated (what everyone initially thinks at least, and why it is funny), What does a drake do with a duck?

In Spanish un pato is a male duck, una pata is a female duck. I hope you're following...

So, answers such as make duckings, eggs or other possibilities(!) etc... are typical.

The play on words is that a 'una pata' also refers to the foot of an animal - tell a Spanish dog 'Dame la pata' = 'Give me your paw'.

So the question is actually 'What does a drake with one foot do?'
The answer - he falls over.. Se cae.

Memorise it and you'll get your Spanish friends laughing.


Whilst talking of ducks a lovely expression for someone who is 'out of their depth' or 'hasn't got a clue what he/she is doing' is 'Esta mas perdido que un pato en un garaje' - Translated = He/she is more lost than a duck in a garage.

Fabulous!

Many thanks Nigel. Please let us have more of these, they are great.

Trabalenguas  - tongue twisters

Probably the most well known in English is the Peter Piper tongue twister.

In Spanish (Castillian) the most well known (from asking people) is 'Tres tristes tigres' - Three sad tigers.

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en tres tristes trastos sentados tras un trigal.
Sentados tras un trigal en tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo tres tristes tigres.

I'll let you search the translation!

In Catalan the most well known seems to be 'Setze jutges'

Setze jutges d’un jutjat mengen fetge d’un penjat; si el penjat es despengés es menjaria els setze fetges dels setze jutges que l’han jutjat.

Somewhat gory but the translation is:
Sixteen judges of a court eat the liver of a hanged man, and if the hanged man unhooks himself, he would eat the livers of the sixteen judges who judged him.

As with many tongue twisters it seems most people only know the first part so learn it all and amaze your Spanish/Catalan friends...

Well I tried the three sad tigers and ended up dribbling!

Thanks again,
Simon

Nigel, are you sure it is not a 'pulpo in a garaje' that is the one I have heard a lot, and it makes me smile, a lot...

Both are true - I haven't heard of the pulpo one before but I'm sure there are loads of regional variations on everything.

For example, Harricot beans are referred to as 'judias blancas' in some areas and 'alubias blancas' in others.

Another saying that is used when someone is a 'bit' strange is
El es mas raro que un perro verde - he is stranger than a green dog

Another one you can use that makes sense in Spanish but not really in English (you'll work out why yourself..) is
Ha lluvido desde entonces - it has rained since then
This is used when a lot of time has passed between two events.

Nigel wrote on Jun 25^th, 2016 at 4:31pm:

Ha lluvido desde entonces - it has rained since then This is used when a lot of time has passed between two events.

:)

Another interesting saying that I've heard several times refers to good or bad times - financially speaking.

The good times are referred to as 'tiempos de las vacas gordas' - times of the fat cows

The bad times are referred to as 'tiempos de las vacas flacas' - time of the skinny cows