BUENO PARA NADA

 

I must be the dullest knife in the kitchen drawer. I trip into idioms in English and Spanish that have been around for years, unbeknownst to me, like the recent "bueno para nada" which had slipped by my scrutiny, only to discover that it is an English stowaway in the ship of the Spanish language: good-for-nothing. In case you do not believe me, I have gathered a few citations (there are many more) to demonstrate that "bueno para nada" has been around for quite some time.

— “Era (la expresión es inglesa) un bueno para nada.” El Mundo, 21/09/1996. Esp. || “… por haber aguardado durante tanto tiempo a aquel bueno para nada que un día había tenido la desfachatez de creerse un Rothschild.” Sergio Pitol, La vida conyugal, 1991. Méx. || “Pero ésa fue la imagen que Ignacio me dio de su hermano: la de un vividor, un pilluelo, un bueno para nada, un tipo gracioso y listo…” Jaime Bayly, La mujer de mi hermano, 2002. Perú.