Carol&John

"vestir un santo que desvestir otro"

Nothing to do with "quedar para vestir santos" (to remain a spinster)?

Is it "To rob Peter, in order to pay Paul"?

Any other traditional phrases?

me me

De tal palo, tal astilla.
From that stick comes that splinter.

meaning- a chip off the old block

Carol&John

Thanks, me me. Any others? The more unusual the better...
Do you recognise the first phrase? Have I guessed it correctly?

rachelk

Have you got it the right way round?

I thought it was

desvestir a un santo para vestir a otro

and yes, robbing peter to pay paul is how I understand it.

bil

God, how I love idioms. You can buy whole books full if you have a mind.

On the subject of saints, I like the one where they say something is 'mano de santo' for something.

The English equivalent is ' a sovereign cure for'

This I think interestingly compares the more religious Spanish with the English King's cure for scrofula.

Carol&John

Hi rachelk,
here's the quote (looks like I should have typed "para" instead of "que"):

Estas fuentes añadieron que “la solución no es traer efectivos de otros sitios porque es vestir un santo para desvestir otro”.

Taken out of context, yet it refers to the recent spell of bad weather, and the provision (or lack of) fire services to areas where there has been flooding.

Bil, I knew this would be "up your street". What's the Spanish equivalent for "up your street"?
"Scrofula", hmmm, is that a bad case of dandruff?

toyboy23

I’ve got a case of Scrofula. Can I bring it with me through customs?

And was ‘pesado’ heavy, as in 'this box is heavy'?

Carol&John

No! It's nasty (scrofula).
"pesado" as in "que pesao!" (annoying, pain in the butt...) or, is it "Yeah man, that's heavy, dude..."(heavy=examining your navel), or, just plain heavy in weight?
Are you trying to tell me something about this thread? Spill the beans! (Translate that into Spanish please.)

toyboy23

Concerning the case of Scrofula, okay, I’ll drink it all before we travel then.

The ‘pesado’ query was directed at Bil, as he mentioned it elsewhere a while ago. I wondered if it was used for just plain heavy in weight.

Unfortunately we teach English not Spanish, so I can’t help with ‘spill the beans’.

me me

These are not sayings in the true meaning but, in Spanish a cat has got 7 lives, not 9.

It is Tuesday the 13th that is unlucky, not Friday 13th.

When I was a child I often got this wrong because my parents taught me the Spanish way.
My friends could never understand when I said it was Tuesday 13th. They looked at me as if I were stupid.

me me

Heavy- pesado is used for weight only too, not just meaning a pain in the butt.

me me

I like this one- Siempre hay un roto para un descosido

It means - there is always a broken one, for one that is undone (undone as in stitching)

It means they are made for each other. Or they are matched. I know there is an English saying that sounds better, but I just cant think of it right now. Can anyone help.

bil

OK, that's an interesting one.

Do you mean as in soulmate? Only that's all I can think of. I like the Spanish equivalent of 'Mi media naranja.'

Lorna at Vicenza

something like ..............
for every foot God made a shoe ????

or have i just made a crappy homemade English idiom from an Italian saying ?

bil

Nearly forgot, someone asked about pesado. As posted above it can be for a heavy weight, a heavy going person or a real bore.

You will often come across it as 'pesao', as they often drop the 'd' . This applies to other adjectives too.