Voices en Español

“It’s not easy being green.” - Kermit the Frog

In English green is a color that generally has positive connotations. In Anglo culture green is generally associated with money or with nature. The same is true in Spanish culture. However, in Spanish verde is a color that frequently has negative or less than positive associations. If any of you reading this know the reason why the color verde leads such a hard knock life in Spanish, please share it with us below in the comments section. In the meantime consider some of the idiomatic Spanish expressions that use verde.

un chiste verde: a dirty joke

un verde canalla: a dirty, rotten scoundrel

un viejo verde: a dirty old man, a pervert

una película o un libro con escenas verdes: a racy (i.e. erotic) movie or book

un perro verde: a weirdo

estar verde: to be green in the literal sense (unripe) and figurative sense (inexperienced).

estar verde de envidia: to be green with envy. I’ve seen this phrase in Spanish but think it would be more common to use the adjective muerto instead of verde in that phrase. Estar muerto de envidia.

poner verde a alguien: to tell somebody off or to talk negatively about somebody behind their back.

a buenas horas mangas verdes: This is an idiomatic expression that is difficult to come up with an exact equivalent in English. Closest I can think of is “too little, too late.” General idea of the Spanish expression is to show exasperation when something happens too late to be of any use.

For example, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have a long-term relationship. Piggy wants to get married and gives Kermit an ultimatum – “Marry me or else.” Kermit doesn’t believe his porcine pareja will really leave him, so he does nothing until Piggy moves out. Devastated, Kermit finally buys Piggy a ring and proposes. But Piggy is unmoved and says “a buenas horas mangas verdes,” which essentially means “nice gesture, but it’s meaningless at this point because it has come too late.”

This Spanish expression reportedly dates back to the 15th-century and the Reyes Católicos and a special military unit they had to respond to emergencies. The sleeves of the uniform of this military corps were green. However, the group developed a reputation for always arriving late and being generally unreliable, never around when the people really needed them in an emergency. Thus the expression a buenas horas mangas verdes was born.

In present-day Spain, the Guardia Civil wears green uniforms but I don’t know whether or not this law enforcement agency shares the same reputation for unreliablity and lack of punctuality as its 15th-century predecessor.

Photos from the “Kermit Series” by Andy

(Special thanks to Andy for giving me permission to reprint his delightful Kermit photos on this blog. Photos cannot be copied or reproduced without his permission.)