Voices en Español

Have you ever checked out a guidebook about your country in Spanish? It can be very amusing. A while back I cracked open a travel book about the U.S. published by a Spanish publisher. The first thing that struck me was that the book had no photos in it. (What kind of guidebook is that?) The second thing was the introduction where it warned readers to prepare for a shock once they landed in the U.S. because “todo el mundo” was fat. C’mon! Yeah we’ve got an obesity problem in the U.S. but there are several countries in Western Europe hitching a ride with us on the Fatty Express.

Anyway, today a friend showed me a book he had picked up a while back called El inglés sin complejos. It’s a phrasebook for Spaniards and other native Spanish speakers interested in English in general, and the U.K. in particular. There’s an entire section devoted to beer in this book that made me laugh.

La cerveza, bebida de gran tradición británica, merece que le prestemos especial atención. No basta pedir simplemente “a beer”. Los ingleses son mucho más precisos. Sobre todo, lo importante es precisar la cantidad que se quiere beber: “a pint” (una pinta), 0’56 litros o “a half” (media pinta).

Luego, hay que indicar el tipo de cerveza que se quiere:

The book then goes on to give the Spanish equivalents for ale, bitter, stout, lager, draught, bottled, can and something the book says the British call “gnat’s piss,” which from the Spanish translation “agua de fregar, meado de gato,” is clear that it’s really bad beer. (Perhaps more commonly heard in Spain is “Esta cerveza es/parece meado,” which means that the beer is truly godawful either because it’s warm or just plain tastes bad.)

The book goes on at length about different English expressions to talk about drinking and getting drunk. Some of the Spanish (and British English) phrases are pretty funny. I’ve also added a couple of my own favorites that didn’t appear in the book. Enjoy!  (But better read the rest of this entry on an empty stomach!)

Foto: “Clark drinking a really big glass of beer” by Ricko

to be tipsy estar achispado, estar contento, tener el punto
to be pissed as a newt (!) estar más borracho que una cuba, tener una mierda como un piano(¡!)
to be out of it estar hasta arriba, estar flotando
to be smashed estar “machacao” (estar machacado)

He can’t control his liquor.   No tiene control, tiene mala bebida.

And after Happy Hour is over……

You look like something the cat dragged in! ¡Tienes un aspecto que tira p’atrás! ¡Menuda pinta me traes!

to feel off color tener mal cuerpo
to feel rough (queasy, upset stomach) sentirse chungo
to puke potar

to puke one’s guts out echar la papilla, echar las gachas (Gross!!)

to look like death warmed over parecer más muerto que vivo

to look as white as a sheet estar más blanco que el cal

OR

estar más blanca que la teta de una monja