AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Color me pink idiom12/31/2023 ![]() ![]() You can say "se puso Colorado" to say that someone blushed. I have always used it to mean that something is colored, or colorful. They are both used to refer to being embarrassed, or financially "in the red", as in the expressions "ponerse rojo como un tomate", and to be in "numeros rojos." In Spanish textbooks or English-Spanish dictionaries you may find that the word colorado is used sometimes for red. Unlike English, the color white can be used in Spanish to express that you have no money, as in " estar sin blanca." As in English, blanco may be used to express that one has no idea, or is "drawing a blank". Blanco in Spanish also refers to cowardice, which is where the usage differs from the English, where we use yellow to label a coward. As in English, white in Spanish can be used in idioms or expressions to refer to something being light, or blank. Someone who is morado might also have eaten himself into a big stomachache, because it also could mean that you are stuffed! When you stop and think about it, if you have even seen a black eye on someone it was actually more a cross between black and blue, so it would be more accurately a purple, or morado, eye. My third color is purple. You may get, or give, a "black eye" in English, but you are going to get "un ojo morado", a purple one in Spanish. In Peru it is called "azucar rubia," or rather " blond sugar." A Spanish friend told me that they do call it "azucar morena" in Spain, though I have almost always heard azucar negra used. So it would definitely be grammatically wrong to say that you would "eat a coffee" lol. In case you are learning Spanish, you would have to say " tomarse un café." One interesting note for Spanish learners on brown and black: brown sugar is black in Spanish, "azucar negra". Another word some Spanish speakers use for brown is cafe, but it wouldn't sound right to say "comerse un café". In case you are one of the few out there who don't know this, café is kind of an internationally-known word for "coffee". You might also "verlo marron" and see something negatively. To "comerse un marron"(literally to "eat a brown"), for example, means to "take the rap", or blame, for something. And just a minor note on brown (marron), another color with a negative connotation in Spanish. You may hear some Spanish speakers say "Estoy negro" (I'm black) or "me pone negro" (it gets, or makes, me black) to say that they are bored, irritable, disappointed or angry.Īs for other idioms with negro, one is "La cosa se pone negra" (the thing, or issue, is turning black, or better put "bleak"), and another one is "verlo todo negro," (to see something completely negatively). "Dinero negro" can refer to "dirty money." You might also say the someone might "tener la negra", to have bad luck. She also taught me not to use the word negro for blacks, but to instead use the word azules, or "blues", for black people. Growing up I remember my mother telling me to be careful when using the word "negro" in Spanish talk around her out of respect for any blacks that may have been around. My educated guess is that our word negro for traditionally referring to black people (among other names) in English came from the Spanish word. The word is negro is Spanish, and you can tell off hand especially if you are an American that using negro comes with a bit of caution, depending on the situation. Like in English, this color does in certain usages have a negative connotation. ![]() ![]() I was really surprised by how few color idioms I knew in Spanish and decided to do a little research on them and to also do a comparison on the use of colors between English and Spanish. As a Spanish teacher, I have not often delved into the area of any idioms with my Spanish students too much. As an English teacher, I have worked a lot with idioms and those would include color idioms. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |