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    Default Un grano no hace granero

    Hola a todos

    ¿Qué significa el proverbio "Un grano no hace granero" y cómo puedo traducirlo en inglés?

    Muchas gracias

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    I'll suggest this is perhaps a shortened form of "Un grano de trigo no hace granero, pero ayuda al compañero" and, in the United States, would be expressed most often as "every little bit helps". That's not a proverb, but there are many related proverbs.
    Last edited by gernt; 03-03-2009 at 09:48 PM.

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    Quote Originally Posted by Elisatas
    Hola a todos

    ¿Qué significa el proverbio "Un grano no hace granero" y cómo puedo traducirlo en inglés?

    Muchas gracias
    This is something hard to translate, because just as there are many sayings in spanish for the same things, the same can be said in english.
    for example-

    just because you wear cowboy boots doesn't mean you can ride a horse.

    or a harsh one:

    sperm doesn't make a dad...

    see what i mean. it just goes with whatever conversation you're having.
    hope that helps at least a bit!

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    That was my first thought, then I had to go and make it complicated.

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    My favorite is "To be all hat and no cows."

    Said of anybody (not just cowboys) is "To be all mouth."

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    "Un grano no hace granero" is a rebuff to a pretentious boaster.

    Ergo...

    "Empty barrels make the most noise" (Scottish proverb)

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    Put your money where your mouth is.
    Put up or shut up.
    Money talks and bullshit walks.

    All three are rebuffs.

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    To Thomas,

    Yeah, but the imagery of "empty barrels" matches more closely the intent of "Un grano no hace granero," since a grain silo storing just one grain is for all intents and purposes "empty."

    (1) "Put your money where your mouth is": There is no direct reference to "money" in the Spanish proverb. This is a confrontational "Put 'em up" rebuff. The original Spanish is an elegant rebuff full of irony.

    (2) "Put up or shut up": "A quien me dé un palo, le doy un peso."

    (3) "Money talks and bullshit walks": No reference to either "money" or "bullshit" in the original Spanish.
    Last edited by ed_freire; 03-05-2009 at 06:13 PM.

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    Contributing User Faraó's Avatar
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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    Here's my contribution, as per a French saying:

    "Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières", and the equivalent would be:

    "Tall oaks from little acorns grow." or,

    "The little streams make the big rivers."

    I hope it helps a little.

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    Default Re: Un grano no hace granero

    On second thought,

    How about the literal translation?

    'Un grano no hace granero"

    "One grain does not a granary make."

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