¡No seas animal! Or go right ahead…
At times it is easy to overlook the fact that animals permeate our daily lives and, naturally, our everyday speech. Take cats for example. Most people in Mexico — and other Spanish-speaking countries — know that at night all cats are black. That’s why we say “De noche todos los gatos son pardos.” This means that when there isn’t much visibility, whether taken in a literal or a figurative sense, different things or people can look very much the same when they really aren’t. The message is “Be careful if you can’t get a clear picture; things may not be as they seem.”
And then you must steer clear of getting a cat when you asked for a hare. The expression is “dar gato por liebre” and it is used in the following sense. If someone advertises a certain product or service, but delivers something inferior, they are “giving a cat instead of a hare.” Listen to this dialogue:
—El señor Pérez prometió que nos aumentaría el sueldo el 16%, pero sólo nos dio el 5% y el resto en vales para gastar en su tienda. (“Mr. Pérez promised us he’d give us all a 16% raise, but he only gave us 5% and the rest in coupons to spend in his store.”)
—No me sorprende. Siempre da gato por liebre. (“It’s not surprising. He always says one thing and does another.”) Dogs are good friends of cats, and there are of course many canine expressions in Spanish. Take “echar (uno) los perros (a alguien),” for example. In English one says “to sick the dogs on someone,” but its meaning is very different. In Spanish, if you want to seduce or enamor someone (which is a nicer way of saying seduce), you throw the dogs at them. Some people prefer the word “can” in this expression instead of “perro,” but it all boils down to the same thing. Take this complaint for example:—Toda la noche le he estado echando los canes a Ramona, pero ni caso que me hace. (“I’ve been trying to get to first base with Ramona all night, but she won’t pay any attention to me.”)
So this guy struck out. Too bad. Maybe he went home with a “bulldog face,” which means that he was in a very bad mood: “Ricardo anda de malas. Trae cara de perro bulldog.”
There is a “dog saying” in Spanish which should be understood as exactly opposite of what it means in English: Es una vida de perros (“It’s a dog’s life”). Granted, in English the saying may be ambiguous. Some understand it to mean that it’s a miserable life, but many others, including myself, have always understood it to mean it as a “cushy” (very comfortable) existence, like the one led by my two dogs who have no chores to do at all; they just lie around all day, eat dog bones and listen to me play the piano. Okay, that’s torture enough… In Spanish, however, the saying is unambiguous: una vida de perros is a very miserable life. Some call it a perra vida. The feminine of perro, or perra, is almost always used in a derogatory manner, as is bitch in English. But if one is aperrado, “obstinate” or “fixated” is the message. “Stubborn” is another possibility.
Spanish is extremely rich in sayings that include animals. Let’s conclude with a rooster saying: En menos [de lo]que canta un gallo, or “Faster than a rooster can crow,” which is very fast. So we use this saying when something happens very quickly. Take this dialogue for example: Juan llegó a la fiesta a las siete de la noche, y en menos que canta un gallo, ya le había propuesto matrimonio a la anfitriona. (“Juan arrived at seven in the evening, and before you knew it, he had already proposed to the hostess.”) And that’s about all the rooster has time for now. See you next week!
If you would like to know more about any idiomatic expressions
you may have heard, or about any Spanish-language difficulties, feel free to contact me at sandrocohen@gmail.com
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