One of the best Spanish teachers that I have besides my wife Gina and my "compañeros de trabajo" (fellow workers) is my friend Benjamin Arredondo from Salamanca and the author of the blog, "El Bable". Today Benja (BEHN-hah), as I call him, came up with a great sentence:
Ni hablar, ¡festejemos el Bicentenario, para que nos hacemos garras el hígado!
It goes without saying, let's celebrate the Bicentennial. What for we claw at our liver!
He was talking about all the things that have been going wrong lately. It is difficult to translate this sentence directly into English. It means that there are bad things not worth mentioning and we should celebrate the bicentennial and not let the bad stuff eat away at us. In Spanish the phrase "garras el hígado" means claw the liver which is considered to be the most delicate body organ. In other words the phrase "hacemos garras el hígado" means "let it eat away at our guts".
You might go to a party and later say to a friend:
En la fiesta hubo gente no grata pero decidí divertirme y no me hice garras el hígado.
At the party there were some unwelcome people but I decided to have fun and not let it bother me.
Another example would be:
Fuimos de paseo al lago con los niños y llegó mi tio aguafiestas. No me hice garras el hígado y disfruté el paseo.
We made an outing to the lake with the kids and my uncle the grinch arrived. I didn't let it bother me and I enjoyed the outing.
There is a bonus word here. The word "aguafiestas" is someone who always throws cold water (or a wet blanket) on a party like a grinch.
So, like my blogger friend Gloria of the blog "Viva la Vida" always says, the word for the day is "aguafiestas" as in:
¡No seas un aguafiestas!
Don't be a grinch!
30 August 2010
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About Me
- Bob Mrotek
- I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.
4 comments:
Funny I have heard aguafiestas used and I kind of had an idea what they meant but this for sure clears things up.
Bob, yo no soy aguafiestas. Soy una mulita. lol. My step-sister used to call me a "mulita" when I didn't want to do housework. hehehee. Great post as always. You always have something interesting and you are so intelligent. If only I had some of your intelligence, I wouldn't be a "mulita." Have a great Wednesday Bob. Take care.
You are so right Bob. There are so many things that will go wrong every day and every where. But the more you focus on those things the less you can see all of the wonderful things around you.
A perfect post for my morning to help me stay focused on all the many wonderful things in my life.
Thanks again for a great post. - as always
Bob:
I'll think deeply this week end about a sentence who will turn you absolutely out of the world...
Saludos!
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