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Idiomatic: Head swim/spin

Idiomatic: Head swim/spin

1
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Huh! I learned something today, I think. It’s an idiomatic expression in English: “That will make your head swim.” I’ve always used it that way as in the sense that “you won’t believe it”, or “it will drive you crazy”. It popped into my head and I looked it up. I couldn’t find it. I did find “make your head ‘spin’” with exactly the same meaning. I asked my friends about it and they thought that “swim” sounded better than “spin”, but they recognized both. This is Midwestern American (US) English.
I could not find an English-Spanish translation, so this is my attempt:

“He spent money so fast that it would make your head swim.” “Gastaba dinero tan rápido que te sacara de quicio.” “Gastaba dinero tan rápido que te diera mareo.”

Are these good interpretations? I always like things that are comical/ironic.

1619 views
updated Feb 15, 2017
posted by DonBigoteDeLaLancha

2 Answers

3
votes

I grew up speaking Midwestern American (US) English, and I don't think I've ever heard swim in this context, only spin.

As for translation, both reverso and linguee indicate varieties of hacer que la cabeza dé vueltas (hacer que se vuelvan las cabezas, hará que le dé vueltas a la cabeza, etc.).

updated Feb 16, 2017
edited by jtaniel
posted by jtaniel
1
vote

I think they are great interpretations.

Only I would say:

“Gastaba dinero tan rápido que te sacaba de quicio.”

“Gastaba dinero tan rápido que te daba mareo.”

Or

“Gastaba dinero tan rápido que daba vértigo.”

updated Feb 15, 2017
edited by LuisCache
posted by LuisCache