Spanish Idioms

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. As I have for the last couple of years, I taught a workshop at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and I was reminded of a couple of food-related idioms in Spanish that I think you’ll appreciate. In English, if you’re really scared about something, you might describe yourself as shaking like a leaf, right? But in in Spanish, the phrase is temblar como un flan.

To shake like a flan, like the dessert?

Yeah, to tremble like a flan, which you can just picture it, right, when somebody sets down the plate on your table and it’s just…

Yeah, because it’s kind of like a firm jello, firmer than jello, right?

It’s not quite as wiggly, but still wiggly.

Yeah, I love that image.

And I also love darle la vuelta a la tortilla, which literally means to flip the tortilla.

And you would use that in the context of, say, you’re watching your favorite soccer team, and they’re just losing and losing and losing.

But all of a sudden, something happens, and they end up winning the game.

You say they’ve flipped the tortilla.

Oh, and we would say flipped the script, maybe, in English, or to turn the tide.

Yeah, yeah, you turn the tide.

But I like that they’re both food-related.

Outstanding.

Well, we know that a lot of you speak other languages at home.

I know you’ve got idioms and things that just don’t quite translate into English as clearly as they are in the original language.

Let us know, 877-929-9673, or email words@waywordradio.org, or spill it all on Twitter @wayword.