FRÍO QUE CORTA LOS COJONES AND OTHER QUAINT EXPRESSIONS

We have just handseled spring and made true the words of the poet, "if winter is here, can spring be far behind?" Indeed not, and it is here, although coming on tiptoe and still reminding us of the colds of the last season, or of yesteryear, remembering Villon. Spanish has many ways of expressing the cold. As a way of wishing winter farewell and good riddance, let me jot down some possibilities: "Hacer un frío que pela (te cagas, te mueres, que corta los cojones, de mil demonios, de muerte, mortal, espantoso)." Of course, English is not far behind in expressions about the cold: "Be cold as charity (hell), as a witch’s tit, as ice, as marble, be bleeding cold."

 — “En Erzurum… hace un frío que corta los cojones.” F. Sánchez Dragó, El camino del corazón, 1990. Esp. || “Aquí hace un frío que pela.” Paloma Pedrero, Invierno de luna alegre, 1989. Esp. || “Además, hace un frío de muerte.” Eduardo Mendoza, La verdad sobre el caso Savolta, 1975. Esp.