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“Meter la pata” please correct.

“Meter la pata” please correct.

1
vote

Can anyone out there in Spanishdict’s land tell me if the usage of the italized phrase is correct in the following sentence?

 ” Futbolista metió la pata 5 veces”

El nuevo” futbolista metió la pata 5 veces”. Solo logro tocar el balón pocas veces, a pesar de eso se le considera uno de los mejores jugadores de hoy en día.

Warning, is a trick question, see if you can find why the italized sentence in the title is misleading.

Hint, it does not have anything to do with 
 grammatical or spelling errors.
4564 views
updated NOV 8, 2009
edited by 00769608
posted by 00769608

6 Answers

1
vote

metió la pata

I'd bet that even in Maryland, "meter la pata" means to "make a mistake" Perhaps, "dió una patada al balón".

updated NOV 8, 2009
posted by samdie
you are right - 00769608, NOV 8, 2009
1
vote

We use "metió la pata" when someone makes a mistake. --- "Metió la cuchareta."

"Ya metistes la pata. Te equivocastes."

In your sentence it means that the futbolista made five mistakes. Unless of course, fútbol players use this differently. That, I don't know.

Literally it might mean:

“El futbolista asistió solamente en cinco jugadas.” --- "The futbol palyer had only five assists."

updated NOV 7, 2009
edited by 0068e2f4
posted by 0068e2f4
1
vote

He missed on five chances of scoring he should have scored but he didn't? Metió la pata= he screwed his chances.

updated NOV 7, 2009
posted by kenwilliams
1
vote

Do you mean because "metio la pata" means basically to "he stepped in it/put his foot in his mouth" and they are trying to use the same phrase to say that he only managed to touch the ball 5 times during the game. (double entendre?)

updated NOV 7, 2009
edited by Izanoni1
posted by Izanoni1
0
votes

The futball player in the paragraph was the goal-keeper. His team had such good defense that he only had to kick the ball five times. And, I was just making a joke when I wrote "metio la pata solo cinco veces".

PS You guys are smarter than I thought.

updated NOV 8, 2009
posted by 00769608
Uhhh... Excelent trick question...Gooooolllll from Gus. - Carlos-F, NOV 8, 2009
0
votes

I think this means, "He" (el futbolista) did 5 goals. Therefore in this case he didn't screw his chances.

Whe you said "Futbolista metió la pata 5 veces" your saying "He kicked the ball 5 times and did 5 goals"...

grin

updated NOV 7, 2009
posted by Carlos-F
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