What means the expression 'Al Rojo Vivo'?
English: I was listening to a Madrid radio station and I heard an ad saying that 'las promociones estaban al rojo vivo'. Well, I think I heard, it was very fast indeed. What means 'al rojo vivo'? When do I use it?
Español: Escuchaba una emisora de Madrid y oía un anuncio que decía: 'las promociones estaban al rojo vivo'. Pues, creo que escuche ésto, fue muy rápido. ¿Qué significa 'al rojo vivo'? ¿Cuándo se lo usa?
2 Answers
¿Cuando se puede usar? ¿Cuando se usa?
The promotions were hot! Imagine a piece of metal is reaching the melting point, see how hot it is and the red color shows very brightly. Well, I think that's where these two words come from. The red shows very brightly. So we could apply this adverb? to other situations.
Example: La policía y los manifestantes se enfrentaron entre si, y ahora la situacion está al rojo vivo. [ The police and the protesters got into a fight and now the situation is hot(tense)]
Oí disparos y unas personas cayeron al suelo.... la situacion en esa calle esta al rojo vivo. [ I heard shots and some people fell to the floor....the situation on that street is hot!]
Supposedly, the news programs on TV only give bad, controversial news, so there is a tv program here in the US called "Al Rojo Vivo" and it refers to the news they present which are "bright red."
Another phrase many people use is " color de hormiga" [ color of an ant] some ants are red so if a situation is "color de hormiga" [hot] I would say: La situation esta color de hormiga, or la situation esta al rojo vivo. Both of them imply that the situation is hot.
Hope it helps!
Could be a reference to this.
