Nada menos se me occurió

Question

This is something I found in one of my Spanish textbooks.

"Nada menos se me occurió que ir a visitar a mi antiguo profesor."

I am of the opinion that the first part would translate into English as something like, "Whatever possessed me to ..." or "why on earth would I ..."

I would really appreciate an explanation and/or clarification/correction. Thank you all!

Answer 1

I am just a beginner in Spanish --with nothing but book learning behind me (oh, and more importantly, audio listening,) But I get the sense that the protagonist is expressing something different from what is suggested by the translation you are supposing.

It seems to me that this author has come to some important conclusion for some reason (which we do not know, of course) and has decided that, although unpleasant, he (or she) will have to go back and face an old, (perhaps unliked, perhaps too strict) Latin teacher and admit to ignorance and whatever "temores" means.

May I (humbly) try this translation: "I didn't see how I could do anything less than to go back and see my old Latin professor and tell him about my ignorance and fears" (I looked up "temor"

My sentence isn't terrific English. And good translators, especially of literature and poetry, could probably be writers and poets in their own right. But I think my translation might make a case for what "nada menos" could mean in your Spanish sentence.

However, we must wait for someone who speaks Spanish to add his or her thoughts based on now having the full sentence. I noted that when Lazarus1907 replied, he did not have the benefit of the sentence, but only of a snippet.

If the words still do not make sense to the Spanish speakers -- even within the context of the whole sentence -- then I hope an administrator will delete my silly post

Peter Spanton said:

Thanks. Yes it is a strange one. I couldn't get a clear clarification from my Spanish teacher here either.The full sentence in my book is: "Nada menos se me occurió que ir a visitar a mi antiguo profesor de latin y declararle mi ignorancia y mis temores"Basically I think " what possessed me to ..", "why on earth did I ...", "it was nothing short of (stupid) that I .." or something like these might be right. I'd be very interested in getting to the bottom of this! Thanks!

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Answer 2

Thanks. Yes it is a strange one. I couldn't get a clear clarification from my Spanish teacher here either.

The full sentence in my book is: "Nada menos se me occurió que ir a visitar a mi antiguo profesor de latin y declararle mi ignorancia y mis temores"

Basically I think " what possessed me to ..", "why on earth did I ...", "it was nothing short of (stupid) that I .." or something like these might be right. I'd be very interested in getting to the bottom of this! Thanks!

Answer 3

Maybe it is an expression used in some countries, but It doesn't seem to make sense to me. It literally means "Nothing less I thought of visiting my old teacher". Maybe it is used to say "What I though of is nothing short of...".