Why do they call it "the running of the bulls"

Question

¿Porqué no llaman "Los idiotas corriendo con los toros?"

Answer 1

¿Porqué no llaman "corriendo de los borrachos?

The drunkard suggestion is actually funny, but drunkards also run without having bulls behind them, so it wouldn't give clues about why they are running if you said that.

Regarding, "corriendo", you are trying to translate the English gerund "running" into Spanish, but it won't work, because Spanish "gerundios" cannot be nouns! " You can say "Corriendo con los toros" (or "Los borrachos corriendo con los toros"), but in this phrase, "corriendo" indicates how the action is taking place (i.e. an adverbial usage) instead of naming the action, which is what English gerunds do.

Would it make sense to say "Correr de los borrachos"? - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 24, 2011

Thank you. Please see correction. - LaloLoco, Jul 24, 2011

I want to know why there's no direct object: ¿Porqué no lo llaman . . . - Sabor, Jul 24, 2011

There is a direct object, just no direct object pronoun (which is optional here). - pesta, Jul 24, 2011

Answer 2

The problem is that not all these guys running from the bulls are drunk. So to properly include everyone, we would have to say something like "Los idiotas corriendo con los toros."

Point well taken. - LaloLoco, Jul 24, 2011

Answer 3

Bulls are equal partners in this pageant along with the runners and ultimately the matador. There is no better book for an aficianado of bullfighting than Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon, which details not only the various events that conclude with the fight, but the rationale behind it. And please--I am not saying yea or nay.

Answer 4

Jaja!!

Well, the bulls are running freely [and wildly]! That's what is making the people run.

It's simple cause and effect, really: Beastly animals run, causing mortal people to run, too.

Well I appreciate the answer. I was afraid people would take the question as rhetorical. - LaloLoco, Jul 24, 2011