It’s been a long while since I do a Cubanism post so here goes:
Cubanism: No tiene nombre.
Literal Translation: Has no name.
Usage and Meaning: No tiene nombre is used as a superlative to describe something to or at its highest degree.
Example: La estupidez de hugo chavez no tiene nombre.
Translation: Hugo chavez’s stupidity has no name.
Le zumba la berengena (algo extraordinario)
Sacarse la rifa del guanajo (algo desagradable)
Ok I got one, I’ll post it in inglish, see if you can figure it out. I got this from my friend Angel Puebla.
“A dick of case”
Oscar
Yo sé de un pesar profundo
Entre las penas sin nombre:
¡La esclavitud de los hombres
Es la gran pena del mundo!
José Martí
respuesta a Oscar
DE PINGA EL CASO
That’s right Cuban62,
I use that in inglish with my American friends and they look at me like I’m a martian.
De Pinga el caso.
Como se dice…
¿Cuba en japones? Nosekome Ná
¿Trabajo voluntario en chino? Tao-Bli-Gao
¿Sandwich en Vietnamita? Pang-Kong-Ná
¿Cuba en vietnamita? Noay-Ná
¿Balsero en congo? Palayuma Mepiro
¿transporte en Congo? Kamina Ketekamina
¿Chivato en coreano? Ko-Mi-té.
It’s amazing how all these little things that are part of our culture become innate in our lives.
One of our favorite sayings (I believe Val posted it a while back)and often used in our family is: “Este huevo quiere sal”
… which translates into something like “This egg seeks salt” … which implies an ulterior reason … we have even translated it into Turkish ( “bu yumurta tuz istiyor”)… and it’s fun to see how out of the blues, my spouse and children use it!
I wish you well 🙂 Melek
“Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.” ~ Sir H. Davy
In English you might say “defies description” Hugo Chavez’ stupidity defies description.
Just pray Hugo never shuts up! Every time he opens his mouth he gets his whole revolution in trouble. There actually is a term for Hugo – the weakest link.
What about…le sumba el mango!
When chavez speaks and you cannot believe what he says…le sumba el mango este tipo.
Also, when fidel fell to the floor after missing his step or being shot…I’m not sure which one it really was, ‘el se despetronko!!!’ I havn’t used or heard of that one in a long time, especially in California.
I suppose you could say that with his non-stop fawning over fifo’s contradictory condition that:
Hugo is “making a ridiculous paper.”
In that last instance “papel” means “role,” hence “playing a ludicrous role.”