What is "tragacuras" in English?

Question

se ven y escuchan menos tragacuras.

Answer 1

Tragacuras: a person who believes and trust what priests say

This word is despective or sarcastic.

The origin of this word is:

tragar: despective for believe curas: priests

tragar.

1. tr. Dar fácilmente crédito a las cosas, aunque sean inverosímiles. U. t. c. prnl. Le contó una mentira y no se la tragó.

2. tr. Soportar o disimular algo muy desagradable. U. t. c. prnl.

Answer 2

Well, we often combine a verb with a noun.

Es un sopla-velas soplagaitas (click for the rude version)

Es una apaga fuegos.

Now, these words can be seen with a hyphen, as one word, as two words...

Thank you! This will help to understand when I cannot find a word in a dictionary, how to make it out and understand it via its parts. - Janice, SEP 24, 2009

Answer 3

I appreciated your edited response, Heidita, explaining how the word is formed because I had spent some time trying to find that word in various dictionaries yesterday before asking about the "hearing" in my post.

I had found this at www.rae.es:

Aviso La palabra tragacuras no está en el Diccionario.

On the other hand I did find "cura" ...the "a" notwithstanding, it is grammatically a masculine word: priest:--) And I did find "tragar" with many meanings, including "swallow" which word in English can also be used to mean that someone simply accepts something completely, perhaps naively.

I also found this meaning for tragar:

*2(fam) (soportar) to put up with; no (poder) tragar a alguien

(fam): no lo trago/traga I/she can't stand him*

Is it common to form words in this way in Spanish -- which words then may not appear in the dictionary?

Answer 4

Did you see this word written or are you writing the word from what you have heard. I find that what I hear is not always what would be written by a native speaker who hears truly what is said.

For example, could you have heard "traiga curas" ? or "tragaderas" or "trascurras", etc..