This 'saying' ?

As a 'newbie' perhaps I should start by giving a greeting to you all! You will see from my profile that I am resident in Spain. I recently heard a phrase that I do not understand. I would add, that I can 'get by' with day to day conversational Spanish, but there are many words - espcially here in Andalucia, where speech is rapid and the 's' at the end of the word is dropped etc, etc - that I am not able to translate. I will give an example, which is really my question! It was referring to a person's movement, when the speaker referred to it as -"haciendo el corro de patata". Strict translation into English makes absolutely no sense, how could he have run like a potato?! Perhaps there are some members who could put the English translation into perspective for me, I would be most grateful.

Thanks,

El Matador

Hi Matador, this is what I could tell you, hope it helps:

1. It is a part of the potato.
2. It is a game/song the kids play.
3. El Corro de la Patata could refers in slang to both things depending of the context (maybe a Spaniard could explain better the two meanings depending the context)

Thank you Gustavo, for your reply. None of the possible solutions that you offered, appear to fit! The sentence was from Joaquín Vidal when he was commenting on the matador José Maria Manzanares and his pases with the muleta and he described his short runs between pases - haciendo "el corro de patata". I do not expect this is of much assistance, but it puts the words into perspective.

A good start would be to find what exactly does 'el corro de la patata' mean in Spanish. A literal translation is of no use. We must find the meaning of the expression. Then we would try to find an English equivalent, if it exists. If not, we would have to settle for an approximation.

Spaniards HELP !?!?

In reply to Hugocar and IUS Administrator, this is what I asked in my original post! Thanks for concurring!
I, also, await some illuminating reply from someone who may know something about the meaning of what must be Spanish Slang!

Thanks to all.

El Matador

I will do an Announcement asking for help...

Thank you IUS, your assistance is gratefully received!
El matador

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by El Matador

Thank you IUS, your assistance is gratefully received!
El matador

---

By the way, if you find it in another place, please post it....
:)
Now we want to know it...
:)

"El corro de la patata" is definitely a song that we used to sing when I was a kid and we would grab each others' hands forming a circle and run faster as the song progressed, until the circle would come apart because we were moving too fast. In this context, I would say the person was moving in circles, if there were more than one person, then I would say they were holding hands in a circle (such as in traditional Greek dances...).

I hope this helps!
Isabel

Thank you, Isabel, for your input. It makes a little sense, and helps a little bit! Although I do not visualise manzanares running in circles, it could be referring to his little runs between pases as being repetitive and pointless!
Thank you

El Matador

Would merry-go-round be an equivalent of 'el corro de la patata?'
We need some help from translators with English mother tongue.
What's the children's game where they hold hands forming a circle, and then turn faster and faster until the circle breaks?
Is it 'Ring around the Rosie'?

Following the post by Isabel, I researched the children’s song avenue and came up with this
"El corro de la patata" is a song that Spanish children sing, where they grab each others' hands forming a circle and run faster as the song progresses, until the circle comes apart because they are moving too fast. In this context, I would suggest that Manzanares was moving in circles, or making repetitive movements. It is just a guess and obviously, if there is someone whose knowledge allows us to learn another meaning, I shall wait in hope! In the meantime I add the words and possible other titles for the song which is similar to the English "Ring around the Rosy/Roses" / A la Rueda Rueda / El corro de la patata.

Al corro de la patata,
Comeremos ensalada,
como comen los señores,
naranjitas y limones
achupe, achupe,
sentadita me quedé.

Saludos a todas

El matador

"Ring around the rosey,
pockets full of posey,
ashes, ashes,
We all fall down."

It looks like the Spanish rhyme has the same structure as this one we used to sing. That's interesting, though it doesn't add anything productive to the translation itself.

To every one who has been involved in this thread, I am happy to state that I have just received the whole paragraph, and I copy it here -

"A Manzanares no le hacía demasiado feliz que le cogieron los juguetes y menos feliz le hací el abuso. Ademas, su juego era otro. Cantaba El nombre de María, que cinco letras tiene...y, a su ritmo, giraba al corro de la patata. Ahora bien, para esta función pegaba carreritas freneticas. Un pase, una carrerita; otro pase, otra carrerita. Innercesario ejercicio, pero ya se sabe que lo de este torero, cuando hace el corro de la patata, es correr."

It seems that the whole report is based upon toyshops, and the playing of childrens' games. So, thanks to Isabel and all of you for your help. The thread would now appear to be closed!

Saludos

El Matador

This has been a very interesting thread.
I am a Spanish native from Argentina and I didn't have the slightest clue of what this expression could mean!
It doesn't cease to amaze me how local idioms and expresios can be so different and completely inintelligible to other speakers of the same language :)

I agree with Scott J, Ring around the Rosie is a good comparison. thanks for the info!:p

Socios,
I have received notification of a post by Veronica, who is a Spanish native living in Argentina. The post doesn't appear here at this time, but I would reply to Veronica by quoting from Charlemanne - 742 to 814, King of the Franks, Emperor of the West; who said "To have another language is to possess a second soul"

Saludos

Colin

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by El Matador

"To have another language is to possess a second soul"

---

Leibniz “really believe[s] that languages are the best mirror of the human mind, and that a precise analysis of the signification of words would tell us more than anything else about the operations of the understanding”

Hello Gustavo,
Thanks for your reply, I thought I had ended the post - However--! Your reference to leibiniz, now when I was at university - (Oh so many years ago), I seem to remember that there was a German rationalist philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), would this be the source of your reference / quote? Probobaly not, the spelling has an 'i' missing after the 'b'. However, without starting a philosophical thread, I agree with the words! I notice that you are on line now, so will probably pick this up soon!
El Matador.

You were right I was speaking about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz

The very same!! I just visited the Wikipedia link that you gave, I don't remember that much, I'm sure what I learnt of him was somewhat less than appears in Wiki: !!
Many thanks

El. Matador

I didn't know that quote from Leibniz... nice!
Gilles Deleuze used to say that every good writer, every interesting writer "speaks a language as a foreigner in that language". He spoke of agrammaticalities. An example is "she dance her did" instead of "she did her dance", where, he says, there is an expression that escapes mere words. A more common expression I can come up with is "I have one too many"... beauties of English. I guess in a certain sense English is a foreign language even for English itself.

Gabriel,

I have received notification of your post, but so far, I am not able to find it here.

I trust that I have not started a philosophical thread, I really do not intend to continue with it if it should develop thus!

I will only mention that, as I recall from the writing of Gilles Deleuze, he penned the phrase - "The philosopher creates, he doesn't reflect." I believe that he wrote, amongst the many literary feats of his, a couple of books on Capitalism and Schizophrenia. I never got around to reading them - probably because my French was not too good and continually referring to a dictionary lessens the enjoyment! Schizophrenia, I studied later in life and Capitalism - well, how do we live? according to the critics !!

El Matador
(retreating from all this philosophical posting!)

Well, I don't think it is a question of trying to be or not to be philosophical. I can tell you that languages tend to move us that way.
You were right about the writings of Deleuze, but I highly recommend "Critical and Clinical", where he analyzes all these "little speeches" by great writers. There you will find these ideas you were talking about.

Thank you Gabriel,

I know what you are describing, and I thoroughly agree.

I shall check out your recommendation, thank you.

El Matador

(Back to my retreat!)

Can Language Affect the Way We Think?

Recently, cognitive scientists have uncovered new evidence revealing that language does in fact influence the way in which we see the things around us. See here the complete post:
Can Language Affect the Way We Think?

En Argentina jugábamos a "Aquel manzano ya no floreció, será tal vez por su vejez", otro juego de manos que quizás sea el equivalente a ese juego en tu país.