‘Fifth pine’ or ‘cut cod’: origins of seven of Spain’s most common phrases

we use daily expression We hear these at home, school and work and incorporate them into our vocabulary as usual.These phrases do not make sense if we analyze them verbatim, but they are used together By using an image or cultural reference.

Some of them take us back in time because they are outdated.many rhymes, such as “Goodbye Fish” anyone “What level, Marybelle?”. Someone has to be the first to say it, but most people don’t know the origin of these claims.

expression dictionary

Elementary school teacher Juan Manuel Salamanca has a blog called “Horchata and Popcorn”in which he devoted himself to disseminating where are they from fixed phrases

During the pandemic, Salamanca said he learned about new technologies and the world of the web by teaching himself.In this way, he started a blog, which today has 285 records

Explain all these and more phrases, and show where they come from.I have a bad memory i like having it as a dictionary‘ he pointed.

The origin of the idiom

The first of his revelations is what we often say is very distant: “In the backcountry”.you have to go back eighteenth centuryin the time of Felipe V, in Madrid, which was still a small city, Five isometric pine trees planted Located on one of the town’s main arterials, specifically the one from Paseo del Prado to Nuevos Ministryios.

At that time, the first three pine trees were used as meeting point.However, the couple “kissed or hugged each other” when they met for the fifth time because not well seen publicly; in public. “It’s something that’s very distant to people, and it’s still in popular culture,” the professor reveals.

“Without your aunt”

You have to go back to 711, when Muslims took over most of the peninsula.They use ancient furnaces to burn things like zinc. In this process, zinc oxide is produced, which sticks to the wall. “They use it to pharmacist mix it with other minerals and make An ointment for patients with conjunctivitis or eye disease, it’s called tutilla or atutilla,” he explained.

The word comes from classical Arabic and some they don’t know how to pronounce it correctly. When they were out of stock, they said there was no “tutia”.

“Sliced ​​Cod”

Slavery already existed when the Spaniards arrived in Central America There was one man who cut the food and distributed it to the slaves. “At the time, cod was very cheap,” he explains.the person in charge is that person command.

advertising and tv

In the 80s and 90s, No good knowledge of English. Since some of them were unpronounceable, they played with words, using rhymes to create things like “Don’t roll up Charles Boyer” anyone “You fucked up Burt Lancaster”. The first example is a Hollywood actor of French descent. The second was Hombres G, who made it popular with the release of a self-titled album in 1986.

“Everything comes from advertising and tvwe have access to many more phrases and expressions. hallucinating, neighbor It came from an ad for a girl who was dating a baby,” she revealed.

“Go out and find Peter Neras”

this petnera is a flamenco woman Origin of flamenco styles such as bulerías or soleá. “It’s not that the phrase has full relation, you can say ‘por bulerías'”, commented Salamanca. The reason it is used may be because petenera has a sadder or more melancholy tone.

“Mother of the Lamb”

Lambs and sheep are animals humans have domesticated since the Neolithic period because of their interest in their hides, meat and milk. “A lamb from an elite breed, you pull the string, if it wasn’t for its mother, it wouldn’t be the lamb it is now,” the professor said. so, The lamb’s mother is its origin, the crux of the matter.