Funny expressions: ¡Me echo el pollo!

Question

I was surprised on the chat by this funny expression, which a forer from Chile used:

Me echo el pollo: I am leaving

In Spain this would not be understood. Would it anywhere else'?

What can we say in English: I split...hmmm, but doesn't sound funny.

Answer 1

Here's some other 'informal' I'm leaving expressions:

Let's make like a tree...

Let's make like a baby...

Let's make like a banana...

• Ok I'll bite. Make like a tree = leave. Make like a banana = split. What does a baby do? - jeezzle Jan 8, 2010
• Ya chap...let's hear it. - Yeser007 Jan 8, 2010
• Make like a baby and "head out". - Goyo Jan 8, 2010
• Let's make like a horse turd and hit the road........ - Goyo Jan 8, 2010
• Love it Goyo!! :) - Jason7R Mar 27, 2010

Answer 2

A much closer comparitive phrase in English to "!Me Echo el Pollo!" is "Let's High-Tail it Out of Here!" Have you ever seen a Whitetail-deer run when it's scared? It flips it's tail straight up in the air (showing the white underside) and bolts across fields and over fences.

• All these years I never associated that phrase with white tail deer. That's great. - Yeser007 Jan 8, 2010

Answer 3

I'm Chilean, and teh expression is "Me hecho AL pollo" XD Is it veeeeeeeery very vey informal.... it's marginal... XD and in Chile, it's funny too ! XD so, NEVER say "me hecho AL pollo" seriously, just as a joke, and with very close ppl xD

• Welcome to the forum! :D - sarahjs Jan 8, 2010
• Please remember to use proper spelling and grammar - sarahjs Jan 8, 2010

Answer 4

"I'm out of here" is very common in the US and to be more explicit it would usually be pronounced " I'm ahtah here" [at least in New England].

• ... or ahtah heeya? - chaparrito Jan 8, 2010
• That would be the Maine version jejeje - Yeser007 Jan 8, 2010

Answer 5

I'm leaving could also be said as "I'm bouncing."

Answer 6

Heidita,
The gentleman you heard this from in the chat room wouldn't happen to be named Claudio, would it? If it was, he told me that he's been hanging around the chat room ever since I sent him a link for this site. He talked me into buying a book of Chilean slang (How to Survive int the Chilean Jungle) and it's full of these idioms.

echarse al pollo: (syn. mandarse a cambiar) exp-vr. "To split", "To take off"; To leave a place. Ex. "Está súper fome la fiesta, yo me voy a echar al pollo".

Answer 7

My mates from Texas says ''Let's buck" instead of lets go...

Answer 8

Mz Badger said:

My mates from Texas says ''Let's buck" instead of lets go...

New word!! thanks

• Just FYI, I'm not sure that would be understood outside of Texas. Texas seems a strange and foreign land to many English speakers. ;) - MacFadden Apr 24, 2010