FROM SIESTA TO SPRINT: SPANISH IDIOMS IN ACTION

 

Popularly, Spanish-speaking people are slow on the uptake, slowpokes, lazy, and very easy-going. However, the Spanish language contradicts these ideas because it has expressions and idioms that encourage us to be quick and fast. Here I have collected a few, along with possible English counterparts:

A todo trapo (mecha, gas, tren, leche, volumen, marcha, pastilla, pitando, como una flecha [bala], a tope, que se mata) Full blast, top speed, full steam, all out, hell for leather, full throttle, pedal to the metal, at a gallop, balls to the wall, at breakneck speed, fast and furious, like a bat out of hell, firing all cylinders, at full tilt

Funcionamos a todo trapo veinticuatro horas al día We are working full blast twenty-four hours a day

— “… sobre todo ahora que quiere recuperar a todo trapo la fortísima suma que desembolsó…” La Vanguardia, 02/01/1995. Esp. || “Todo era diferente, mi ley de prensa funcionaba a todo gas.” José Luis Gutiérrez, et al., La ambición del César, 1989. Esp. || “Por la puerta abierta entraba el siseo de la máquina lanzada a toda pastilla.” Clara Obligado, Salsa, 2002. Arg.