The people really get off on the colors

Question

how would you say it in spanish.. what does Get off on the colors mean..

Welcome to the forum! - pesta, May 25, 2011

Answer 1

The term "get off" can mean so many things in English.

"get off on the right foot"

"get off my back"

"get off track"

"get off lightly"

"get off the bus"

You get the idea. Can you construct the sentence in English without using the colloquial?

Answer 2

Dogwood made a good point here. His mini-quiz is pretty interesting.

In English, "get" is used in many colloquial ways. And "get off" appears to be rich in idiomatic variations all by itself.

To your original question - "get off on something" means to be excited by something, to be thrilled or enchanted by something. It was a slang expression when I first heard it in the 1960's, but it may be more accepted today.

I just read your bio on here, fascinating. - jeezzle, May 25, 2011

Answer 3

One possibility: excitarse por / con algo (to get excited over something)...but do keep in mind that excitarse often is used to mean "to get sexually aroused."

La gente se excita mucho por/con los colores.

.

However...

...personally, I would go with something a little more traditional, like:

A la gente, le gustan mucho los colores.

It may be possible to use excitar this way, but it seems too easy to confuse it with excitado/excitada.which means sexually excited. - jeezzle, Jun 11, 2011

I'll vote you up because I like A la gente, le gustan mucho los colores, good and to the point. - jeezzle, Jun 11, 2011

Answer 4

A la gente le fascinan los colores. (apasionarse por would work - A la gente le apasionan tanto los colores, or .. son apasionados por los colores)

BUT excitarse would likely mean they get sexually excited by the colors.

Oddly, "to get off on" actually means that in a lot of contexts. I wouldn't prefer to use excitarse, though, either...I would probably go with gustar myself...not that *that* means anything. :-) - webdunce, Jun 11, 2011

Ha. Yeah, gustar is the good old standby. I do like fascinar though, on occasion. - jeezzle, Jun 11, 2011

Apasionar looks like an excellent option!!! - webdunce, Jun 11, 2011

Answer 5

This is a similar question Word Ref and gustar and encantar are given as somewhat more polite options to the given English phrase, which can have other nuance as pointed out by the other comments above

Answer 6

i have done some research on this and have been informed that "get off" is an old bohemian term meaning about the same as "get high". thank you for your help

I don't recommend saying, "Get off on..." in any formal situations. It definitely can mean simply "to get emotionally excited about something" but it can also mean "to get sexually aroused about something"...so it has a somewhat vulgar feel to it. - webdunce, Jun 11, 2011

It's not considered cussing...but I would only use it in informal conversations with friends. - webdunce, Jun 11, 2011

Answer 7

See, pesta?