santoa santa
adjective
2
¿a santo de qué? why on earth?
¿a qué santo? what on earth for?
¡por todos los santos! for pity's sake!
no es santo de mi devoción he's not my cup of tea (familiar)
alzarse con el santo y la limosna to clear off with the whole lot (familiar)
comerse los santos to be terribly devout
desnudar a un santo para vestir otro to rob Peter to pay Paul
se le fue el santo al cielo he forgot what he was about to say
¡que se te va el santo al cielo! you're miles away!
llegar y besar el santo to pull it off at the first attempt
fue llegar y besar el santo it was as easy as pie
nacer con el santo de espaldas to be born unlucky
poner a algn como un santo to give sb a telling-off (familiar)
quedarse para vestir santos to be left on the shelf
tener el santo de cara to have the luck of the devil
tener el santo de espaldas to be cursed with bad luck
As well as celebrating their birthday, many Spaniards and Latin Americans celebrate their santo or onomástica. This is the day when the saint whose name they have is honoured in the Christian calendar. It used to be relatively common for newborn babies to be named after the saint on whose day they were born. So a boy born on 25 July (Saint James's day) stood a good chance of being christened "Santiago". The tradition may be dying out now that parents are no longer restricted to names from the Christian calendar. In Spain, as with birthdays, the person whose santo it is normally buys the drinks if they go out with friends.
