If somebody says to you, “Take a hike!”, and you’re not a native English speaker, you might wonder why this person, who only recently seemed on the verge of throttling you, is now hoping that you take in the natural landscapes of the countryside on a walking path. It would seem that his tone of voice and the intended message do not match.
Indeed, idioms are fantastic pieces of language that don’t translate at all, and can make for some rather humorous situations. Recently, I learned three Spanish idioms, which I’ll share with you now for your viewing pleasure.
1) “Mom! She’s taking my hair!” – To take someone’s hair (or, tomar el pelo) is the Spanish way of saying “to make fun of someone.” Being an elementary school teacher, I hear “he was taking my hair” a lot, and I always have to stifle a laugh. If you think about it though, “making fun of” doesn’t really make sense either. Isn’t making fun a good thing? Shouldn’t we make fun all the time? These are questions that keep me up at night.
2) “I hope they give you the blood sausage!” – This partially creepy, partially out-of-left-field expression came from a Spanish-dubbed version of Fresh Prince, when Will got mad at Carlton. I looked it up online, and “Que te den la morcilla!” roughly translates to “I wish you’d drop dead” or “Leave me alone.” In the late 1800s, it was believed that stray dogs spread disease. Blood sausage (similar to the Scotch/Irish black pudding), was poisoned and then fed to stray dogs to kill them. This was before the existence of kennels. It has a grisly origin, and still remains as a saying, although nowadays, morcilla is a delicacy in many parts of Spain.
3) “Let’s ride the Russian mountain together” – Although this may sound like some weird, kinky expression, the Spanish word montaña rusa (literally, Russian mountain) means “roller coaster.” So, to ask someone to “ride the Russian mountain” is really a family-friendly invitation to ride a roller coaster together. Why it’s a Russian mountain, I couldn’t tell you. I do know, however, that saying its English translation to a girl you picked up at the carnival in the States is likely to get you slapped.
Just A Regular Vaganza 