Do their heads in. Comerse los cocos.

Question

Apologies that this question has been asked before but unfortunately no appropriate answer was provided. I am wanting to know the/a Spanish expression equivalent to the English "to do someone's head in".

There are a number of ways that this expression can be used in English and I believe it is equivalent to the expression "to mess with someone's head" meaning to confuse, overwhelm, brainwash, or in general prevent the clear and effective functioning of the brain, either deliberately or without intent. For example;

"It is the verb conjugations that do my head in."

"I never know if my girlfriend loves me or not and it is doing my head in."

"Having to get up so early every morning is really doing my head in."

"Watch this. I'm going to hide the dog's food and really do his head in."

"I like to ask my professor a question for which I know he doesn't have the answer. It does his head in."

"There are vegans in our group. This menu is all meat. It will do their heads in."

I have heard the expression in Spanish "no me comas el coco". Would "comerse el coco" be applicable to any of the examples above?

"Es las conjugaciones que me comen el coco."

"No sé nunca si me quiere mi novia y me come el coco."

"me come el coco madrugarme cada día."

"Mira. Voy a esconder la comida del perro y se comeré el coco."

"Me gusta preguntarle algo a mi profesor que no puede contestar. Se come el coco."

"Hay veganos in el grupo. Este menú es todo de carne. Va a comerse los cocos."

Please advise and correct examples if possible. Many thanks.

Can someone please help Eric out on this one . Gracias a todos. - ray76, Mar 15, 2017

BTW, in searching the interent I saw some entries that say the comerse el coco es more like being really worried about something or someone - DilKen, Mar 15, 2017

Answer 1

Okay, I am gonna take a stab at this one.

**Algo ** me/te/le/nos/les rompe el cerebro.

"las conjugaciones me rompen el cerebro."

"No sé nunca si mi novia me quiere y eso me rompe el cerebro."

"me rompe el cerebro madrugar cada día." or "madrugar cada día me rompe el cerebro"

"Mira. Voy a esconder la comida del perro y eso le romperá el cerebro."

"Me gusta preguntarle algo a mi profesor que no pueda contestar. Eso le rompe el cerebro."

"Hay veganos en el grupo. Este menú es todo de carne. Eso les va a romper el cerebro."

"comer el coco" is perfect but this phrase in kind of low class and some native speakers wouldn't get it.

If you google "me rompe el cerebro" in quotation marks, you will see a lot of examples.

Espero que esta duda no te rompa el cerebro de aquí en adelante. Atentamente: Doc Spanish

Nota: Quiero muchos votos porque esta respuesta me rompió el cerebro. - DoctorSpanish, Mar 15, 2017

Doc: you got one from me:) - DilKen, Mar 15, 2017

Thank you for your answer. Sometimes I'm having a low class moment ;-) but will keep that in mind when I am wanting to project a better (classier) image. LOL. - ErikainAndalusia, Mar 15, 2017

Por mucho que me coma el coco. nunca he oído lo de romper el cerebro - 000a35ff, Mar 15, 2017

astotxua Coloca en Google "me rompe el cerebro" con comillas, investiga y luego dices aquí que encuentras. - DoctorSpanish, Mar 15, 2017

simplemente comento que nunca he oído esa expresión . Yo no le discuto que exista o no. Quizás en Sudamérica sea de uso común pero en España en términos coloquiales se emplea :comer el coco" independientemente de la clase social o estatus. - 000a35ff, Mar 15, 2017

Por otra parte "comerse la cabeza" si que lo he oído, aunque lo usan más las personas de cierta edad. - 000a35ff, Mar 15, 2017

También yo amigo , un voto. - ray76, Mar 17, 2017

Answer 2

Does anyone want to take a stab at this one?

Not me lovely girl. - ray76, Mar 17, 2017

Answer 3

I couldn't think of any expression, only standard words. Las conjugaciones verbales me confunden, me embotan el cerebro. No saber si mi novia me quiere me abruma. etc.

Answer 4

Eric:

Here's some links with some possible answers. By the way, I almost never hear "do my head in"...I'm in the Midwestern United States. So...I searched for "messing with my head." To me, reading your examples...I would say that it is almost identical to "driving me crazy"

If you look up loco in the dictionary here I think you will find several suitable phrases. These are from my favorite source for this type of thing context.reverso.net

English and Spanish sentences - messing with my head

Doing my head in

drives me crazy

I love context.reverso too but I was looking especially for the "comerse el coco" saying as I hear "comer" used a lot for these sorts of expressions and particularly like the reference to the "coco" even though I understand that it is slang. - ErikainAndalusia, Mar 15, 2017