tragar saliva or?

Question

I have heard that tragar saliva means to bite one's tongue. Is this expression more common than just morder mi lengua?

TIA Zanylady

Answer 1

Well... the one I know is:

Morderse la lengua - To bite one's tongue.

I searched the phase "tragar saliva" and found this:

swallow hard, gulp, gulp down; Synonyms: tragar gordo, tragar duro, tragar grueso

And I also found this from a different forum:

"Tragar saliva" es una expresión que se utiliza cuando te enfrentas a algo importante o algo que te asusta.

Tragué saliva y me tiré con mi ala delta por el precipicio. Traga saliva y venga, que tu puedes!!

Answer 2

I have heard "tragar tus palabras" for this meaning, but not tragar la saliva, although that might be a completely normal way to express "biting one's tongue."

Often, literal translations of figurative phrases like "Morder tu lengua" don't cross linguistic lines, although this one may.

We'll see!