mas perdidos que una cucaracha en la baile de gallinas
what is the abstract meaning of this phrase'
12 Answers
Natasha said:
Sorry about that! Mostly, I don't but I had a momentary lapse.
samdie said:
Lyndelle said:
There is an old American song that uses a phrase like this. I picked it up as a youngster. "happy as a cow chewin' on her cud when the people beat their feet in the Mississippi mud"I have associated this with a picture of a community of people doing a happy folk dance, ankle deep in the mud deposited by the Mississippi river when it flooded.
Well, the first line is "Sun goes down. Tide goes out.". so I don't think you need to wait for the river to flood.OTOH you'd need to be in the delta region for the "tide" to be relevant.
OTOH = On The Other Hand? Please remember not to use chat talk. Good point about the Delta.
Lyndelle said:
There is an old American song that uses a phrase like this. I picked it up as a youngster. "happy as a cow chewin' on her cud when the people beat their feet in the Mississippi mud"
I have associated this with a picture of a community of people doing a happy folk dance, ankle deep in the mud deposited by the Mississippi river when it flooded.
Well, the first line is "Sun goes down. Tide goes out.". so I don't think you need to wait for the river to flood.
OTOH you'd need to be in the delta region for the "tide" to be relevant.
There is an old American song that uses a phrase like this. I picked it up as a youngster. "happy as a cow chewin' on her cud when the people beat their feet in the Mississippi mud"
I have associated this with a picture of a community of people doing a happy folk dance, ankle deep in the mud deposited by the Mississippi river when it flooded.
I've always heard: happier than a pig in slop. As James pointed out, speakers tend to change these at will.
James said:
lazarus1907 said:
I don't know in other countries, but in Spain we like to express to replace "very" with this kind of exaggerated comparisons (colloquially, of course) with "más/menos ''' que '''". So, instead of "you're really lost", we'd say "you're more lost than a fart in a jacuzzi", "you are more lost than the rice boat" (referring to a boat with a rice cargo that sunk), or something like that. You just make them up as you go along.
That same tendency is very common in the speech of the southern US. In addition, they use comparisons in the form of "as {adjective} as {noun phrase}" very frequently. (Such as "I'm as happy as a pig in mud.") Many Americans who aren't from the South deride such speech, thinking it indicates a lack of education, but I have always found it to be extremely witty. In many cases the speaker makes up the saying on the spot, as you say, and that takes a lot of intelligence.
Normally over here, we would use the word S''T instead of mud, which means pigs are considered as being extra dirty.
James said:
That same tendency is very common in the speech of the southern US. In addition, they use comparisons in the form of "as {adjective} as {noun phrase}" very frequently. Many Americans who aren't from the South deride such speech, thinking it indicates a lack of education, but I have always found it to be extremely witty. In many cases the speaker makes up the saying on the spot, as you say, and that takes a lot of intelligence.
I think so too. Not everyone can say something witty that quick.
lazarus1907 said:
I don't know in other countries, but in Spain we like to express to replace "very" with this kind of exaggerated comparisons (colloquially, of course) with "más/menos ''' que '''". So, instead of "you're really lost", we'd say "you're more lost than a fart in a jacuzzi", "you are more lost than the rice boat" (referring to a boat with a rice cargo that sunk), or something like that. You just make them up as you go along.
That same tendency is very common in the speech of the southern US. In addition, they use comparisons in the form of "as {adjective} as {noun phrase}" very frequently. (Such as "I'm as happy as a pig in mud.") Many Americans who aren't from the South deride such speech, thinking it indicates a lack of education, but I have always found it to be extremely witty. In many cases the speaker makes up the saying on the spot, as you say, and that takes a lot of intelligence.
I don't know in other countries, but in Spain we like to express emphasis with this kind of exaggerated comparisons (colloquially, of course) with "más/menos ''' que '''", instead of "very" or "really". So, instead of "you're really lost", we could say something like "you're more lost than a fart in a jacuzzi", "you are more lost than the rice boat" (referring to a boat with a rice cargo that sunk), or something like that. You just make them up as you go along.
Eddy's interpretation is right.
The correct form is:
Estar más perdido que una cucaracha en un baile de gallinas.
Baile is a masculine noun, so it could never be "la baile," but even "el baile" is strange, since it sounds like there is a specific dance of chickens.
The plural perdidos could be used depending on the context.
The meaning is pretty obvious, as explained by Natasha and Eddy. A bunch of chickens pecking around in the dirt, and the poor cockroach in their midst doesn't know which way to turn.
Basically it's saying that you couldn't be more lost. You are so far adrift etc.
Literally: more lost than a cockroach in the chicken dance. So . . . this must be a saying'
