BajaNomad

"Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs"

Braulio - 1-16-2005 at 08:33 PM

That's a good question Lencho - I can't offhandedly think of anything as colorful or ranchero as granma sucking eggs - but if I wanted to express that thought I'd probably go with:

"El alumno le ense?a al maestro."

or some similar version. Actually "El alumno etc. " is usually used in a positive way - that is that a child or such is actually teaching or demonstrating something new. But if it's phrased kind of sarcastically it'll work.

Wish I had something better - maybe something will occur to me later.

Good luck.

(Don't even think about translating this one literally - it'll get you in to trouble.)

Bruce R Leech - 1-17-2005 at 08:27 AM

Be careful with that one. I played around with it and got some bad results.

some words have 2 or more meanings in Spanish.

Bruce R Leech - 1-23-2005 at 04:35 PM

My House is full of them. there rolling on the Flor Laughing.

Oso - 1-24-2005 at 07:38 AM

There is an existing expression somewhat similar, but with a totally different meaning. Basically it refers to getting used to something good and not wanting to give it up:

"Perro que chupa huevo, aunque le rompen el hocico..."

bajalera - 1-31-2005 at 01:25 PM

This thread is a surprise to me. My grammie told me that teaching grammas to suck eggs meant teaching them something they didn't really want to do [guess she didn't suck eggs]. I like lencho's meaning better.

bajalera

Oso - 1-31-2005 at 07:18 PM

I've been asking around about this and so far the best anyone has suggested is "ense?ando cortar chile a Clemente Jacques."

But, there is a good one that might apply to the situation. When someone does or says something audacious, presumptuous or otherwise acting "too big for their britches", one may respond by rolling one's eyes and exclaiming in mock astonishment:

"?Ahora s? que me creci? por andarmelo jalando!"
:lol:

[Edited on 2-1-2005 by Oso]

Oso - 2-1-2005 at 07:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by lencho
[

I like that. Pardon my ignorance, is there any history in "Clemente Jacques," besides being a brand name?

Quote:
Only that it's about the oldest chile pickling company around, maybe the first in Mexico.


Woah, I don't think spout THAT out in the middle of a board meeting! ;>

Have you ever heard anybody actually use it?

--Larry


No, a board meeting probably isn't the right venue for that one, and yes, I've heard someone use it; my wife! :o

[Edited on 2-1-2005 by Oso]