Very colloquial: perdido de la mano de Dios....

Question

This is from Charlius's blog he is sharing with us....you simply MUST read this...hilarious and a real insight to Spain.

Charlie went to live in a small village Cartama, in Malága....nobody, I mean, nobody had ever heard about this place before... until our very own Charlie went there of course

Well, we say over here:

Este sitio está perdido de la mano de Dios.

sooooo far and sooooo unknown

Do you have something idiomatic for the same sentence in English?

Answer 1

backwoods; out in the country; the boondocks; the boonies; no man's land; the middle of nowhere

• boonies??? never heard that - Heidita Oct 14, 2009
• boonies would be the shortened form of boondocks - nizhoni1 Oct 14, 2009
• The boonies is very common. So is the middle of nowhere. - Goyo Oct 14, 2009

Answer 2

I forgot: Off the beaten path; miles from anywhere

In Spanish do the phrases "en el quinto pino" and "por los quintos infiernos" carry a similar meaning?

• yes, same thing - Heidita Oct 14, 2009

Answer 3

In Australia they say "beyond the black stump". There are some very small towns out in the desert there.

Answer 4

Some expressions used in England are: out in the bondu, in the sticks, off the beaten track, miles from nowhere

• I have heard all of these (except for "in the bondu") used here in the US - Izanoni1 Oct 14, 2009

Answer 5

We've always used "The back of beyond" in our family.

See here for origins of the phrase.

Answer 6

Well this is a very urban expression that I have only heard used in Philadelphia and New York. The expression is 5th and Jabip, which is a ficticious street corner. It can be used in two ways. If someone doesn't want to tell someone where they live or where they are going, when asked they would say "I live at 5th and Jabip."

The most common usage pertains to your question. When talking about going to some far away, unfamiliar place that no one has heard of they say..."I had to go all the way out to 5th and Jabip." It kind of rolls off the tongue with the Philly/NY accents and is usually said with a touch of sarcasm. I don't know if anyone else outside of this region has heard of it.

• That sounds really funny..... - Heidita Oct 14, 2009

Answer 7

Trinidad (en Caribbean)

Colloquial language we say "Behind God's back!"