Early to bed, early to rise

ByGwyn Fisher

So a latish night round ours. Jose came round and we had a few tequilitas. At one point he came up with a brilliant Mexican saying. It’s like God giveth and he taketh away only much more cynical: porque “Dios aprieta, pero no aplasta…” *EDIT* It’s actually: “Dios aprieta pero no ahoga”. *EDIT* I’ve been trying to think of a decent way to translate it, but for now you’ll have to make do with: God squeezes but he doesn’t *EDIT* strangle *EDIT*… Context would be something like, So my dog died, my car was broken into and then my house burnt down, but, because Dios aprieta, pero no aplasta, I got a 3 dollar tax refund. Anyway, I liked that. Jose’s a veritable mine of Mexican dichos.

I hope my translation skills improve before I tackle the latest QYLA bios… Comment away your better translations…

*non-music-lovin’-mp3-listening-peeps stop reading now*
Q Magazine’s got a new podcast which is great because Q is not on the shelves even in Sanborns in Mexico. Now I can have a taste of what’s going on UK side in new albums. This month’s has an interview with someone from Keane a review of Gnarls Barclay, and Snow Patrol’s latest and a storming cover of REM’s Orange Crush. AND it lasts just the same time as it takes to get from my house to Plaza Bonita on the bus. Good times…

4 Comments

  1. There’s a nice proverb to the effect ‘everything is fine as long as the chocolate is thick”. Or so I believe.. el agua clara y el chocolate espeso… Las cuentas, claras, y el chocolate, espeso … depending on version you find.

  3. Hi Gwyn, I’ve never heard of the sarna one, and I’m Mexican.. sarna con gusto no pica..mhh. and why would you like the sarna to picar? seems very complicated.. what was your translation?

  4. Hola Cuquis, it was for a short film by a Uruguayan director, although Jose, the aforementioned rey del dicho mexicano, knew of it.

    In the context I was given I put “If you like what you're doing then it's not really hard work” which captures the meaning without the imagery…

    Definitely a tricky one. Other people had a go at it here…

    cheers! -gwyn

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