A couple phrases using long
Hi all,
I´m looking for a couple phrases, one each that are positive and negative, and more or less opposites of each other, but that are a bit idiomatic, and thus not worth messing with the translator here.
1) By a long ways. (where ways simply means a lot,, and could be units of time, or distance, or points or almost anything. Just trying to say that it with room to spare (wasn´t close)
As in.
They lost the game by a long ways (by many points) or He won the race by a long ways (by a lot of time, or a full lap, or...)
Just something that conveys. ¨It was by a large amount or margin. By a lot.
OR.
2) Not by a long shot (more or less, the opposite)
They didn´t even come close to winning; not by a long shot.
Their answer wasn´t even close to correct; not by a long shot.
They were´t even close to winning, not by a long shot.
I´d imagine to get close to this, someone will have to already know corresponding idioms in both languages, but guesses are welcome too.
Thanks Roger
5 Answers
Hi Rog! I don't think we have an equivalent that serves for all purposes, but there are several ways to express this.
They lost the game by a long ways (by many points) - Perdieron por mucha diferencia de puntos. Perdieron con rotundidad.
He won the race by a long ways (by a lot of time, or a full lap, or...) - Ganó la carrera con mucha ventaja, ganó con holgura, ganó cómodamente, con mucha claridad, por amplio margen.
They didn´t even come close to winning; not by a long shot. - Se quedaron muy lejos de la victoria.
Their answer wasn´t even close to correct; not by a long shot. - Su respuesta no estaba ni cerca de ser correcta.
There are a lot of cultural usages at play here .
"I do not agree with you , " not by a long way" .Not by any opinion , or way of
looking at it. We almost never use that expression in sport. De ninguna opinión.
But the "long shot" we are in accord , but it is way out of favour.
" He wouldn't win in a one horse race"
"He had Buckleys chance of winning".
I think 'un perdedor' is the equivalent of a long shot say if you're referring to a horse in a race (not much chance of winning etc) or depending on context you can just say - una posibilidad remota.
I'd translate [2] with no ------ en absoluto: They didn't blablabla at all.
Señor Google however suggests 'ni con mucho'.
[1] I'd have to rebuild totally, as I have no idea, but maybe 'con distancia' ??????????
De los caballos decimos: El sabodo pasado, Sprinter Sacre ganó la carrera por 14 cuerpos ( o una distancia mayor, si fuera mas que veinte cuerpos) .
About horses we usually say: Last saturday, Sprinter Sacre won by 14 lenghts, ( this is expressed as '' by a distance'' if it is more than 20 lenghts).
Sprinter Sacre es el campeon nuevo de Inglaterra.
In England we say : it was a walk-over. This is a race with only one runner. He still has to be saddled up and ridden, at a walk, over the finishing line. It means a race won without any effort whatsoever. However, we use the phrase for any race, won with consumate ease.
En Inglaterra decimos que un caballo ''ganó andando,'' cuando hay una carrera con sólo un competidor. Ni siquiera que no hay competición,hay que ensillar al caballo y montarlo para cruzar la línea de llegada, andando . Utilizamos la frase para carreras de todas tipos, y otras competicones, que se han ganado sin hacer ningún esfuerzo.
