Until you're blue in the face

You can argue with them until you're blue in the face, but they won't give you your money back

Thanks in advance

Puedes discutir con ellos hasta que te pongas rojo de la rabia y sin embargo no te devolverán el dinero.
Puedes discutir con ellos hasta que te pongas morado de la rabia, pero igual no te van a devolver la plata.

I think some people say verde de la rabia too. But it sounds more like green with envy to me.

It's a local thing though, each country has its own variation.

El término "blue in the face" no necesariamente implica rabia o ira, sino que mas bien hace referencia a "pediro hablar de algo hasta el cansancio" que de todas maneras no va a suceder, o no será entendido. Me parece que no hay un término exacto en español. Creo que "...podrías repetir o insistir hablar hasta el cansancio..." es lo más natural

El término blue in the face viene quedar sin oxígeno (de ahi azul) de tanto hablar .


este es mi primer post saludos,
Patricia

(perdón por los typos, mi teclado no anda bien).

Hola P

Tiene sentido lo que dices. A lo mejor se pudiese interpretar de las dos formas en diferentes contextos. No sé.

Yo cuando propuse mi traducción lo hice sin ver nada. Solo me guié por mi conocimiento del idioma, así que siempre hay espacio para la equivocación. Al leer tu comentario, lo busqué en Google y encontré esto en about.com:


blue in the face
http://z.about.com/


Definition: very angry or upset; very emotional
Explanation: Used when someone becomes overly excited about something, usually in a negative way
Examples: He went blue in the face when discussing the faults of his boss. - I became blue in the face when expressing my displeasure with her.


De todas maneras, sigo buscando.

Saludos,

Según la definición del NTC's American Idioms Dictionary (Richard Spears, Ph.D. - Ed. McGraw Hill):
To talk until one is exhausted. (Informal) Ej.: I talked until I was blue in the face, but I couldn't change her mind.╣ She had to talk until she was blue in the face in order to convince him.

As I'd said in my last entry, I continued to look for information on this since I really wanted to get to the bottom of it. I then asked a dear friend of mine whose views on both Spanish and English are always on the right track.

This is what he wrote back:

Quote:

---

It means that there is absolutely no point in arguing about it, as no matter how long you might do so, their position is fixed and will not change. If you do something until you are blue in the face, it means that you are doing something for a very long time, and the implication is that it will be to no avail, it won't change anything, it will be wasted effort.

I've just had a look here: blue in the face - definition of blue in the face by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. and they say:

blue in the face At the point of extreme exasperation: I argued with them until I was blue in the face.

Not sure about the origin, but I'd guess it might have something to do with doing something until you draw your last breath, at which point, starved of oxygen, your blood would be blueish in colour.

---

I have to conclude that it seems that in fact, as gentle and Patricia pointed out as well as my friend, the main meaning of the expression is to do something for a very long time. In Spanish, as Patricia wrote, it would be something like insistir hasta el cansancio, etc.

I would also add though that the meaning I had suggested at first can also fit some contexts, and therefore, we can't discard it altogether since about.com blue in the face gives very angry or upset as the meaning of this expression, and that translates as morado de la rabia, etc.

I hope this helped all of us to expand our understanding of both languages.

Cordiales saludos,