Origin of La Cuerda floja - tightrope v, loose rope

Question

Floja , as I understand it, means loose, slack. Yet cuerda floja means tightrope. Does anyone know why cuerda floja has this meaning or is it just an idiomatic expression?

I have seen tightrope acts in which there is a considerable amount of slack in the rope which allows the funambulist to make sidewise movements. Perhaps this could be the origin of the spanish expression?

Answer 1

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuerda_floja

Ahora tiene sentido, gracias - margaretbl, MAY 24, 2010

Answer 2

Funny, i've nevere thought about it but despite the fact that is a tightrope. In Spain we call it la cuerda floja. It is an expression so it doesn't have to make sense if you translate it directly to English

Answer 3

What an interesting question. I had never really thought about that and it seems odd now. Hopefully someone can answer this.