Spanish is one of the languages spoken in the world and has always stood out for its lexical richnessas evidenced by the multiple dialects used in our country. THE Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) estimates that our language is made up of approximately 93,000 words, to which are added many other expressions that we pronounce daily but which are not included in the Spanish dictionary.
Among these sayings we are talking about there is also the wordsa kind of declarations of popular origin in which we express a teaching, a thought or a moral. These expressions we usually use them daily in our conversations, without having to stop to think about their meaning, and among them there are some as emblematic as “it is better to be alone than in bad company” or “don’t look at a gift horse in the mouth.”
However, beyond those that all Spaniards know, some of these proverbs also emerged at the regional level. This is what is happening in the Canary Islandswhere inside your own dialectin which we already find unusual words for the peninsula (“papas”, “baifo”, “frangollo”, “guagua” or “tenderete” are just some of the most common). Likewise, like other words, some also appeared recurring expressions among the citizens of the archipelago who not used elsewhere of our country and whose meaning is unknown to many people.
The most typical sayings of the Canary Islands and their meaning
As in the rest of Spain, in the Canary Islands, some popular sayings to refer to certain everyday situations. However, even if some are better known to citizens, the truth is that the majority of them They have not spread to other parts of the country and they are originally from the islands.
These are the three most typical Canarian sayings collected by the magazine Viajar in a publication in which they seek to “valorize the Spain of proverbs”:
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“The rabbit has already hurt my dog”
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“Pícamelo menuo I want it for the hookah”
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“What two heads for a fish broth”
These more than singular expressions are difficult to decipher at first glance by Spaniards who have not heard them before. To help you, we will try to enlighten you and explain in what situations each of them is used.
In the case of the first of them, “The rabbit has already hurt my dog”corresponds to an expression usually used in situations where Things go wrong and don’t go as planned. initially. According to the Basic Dictionary of Canarisms, it corresponds specifically to “an expression which in a tone of lamentation “It is used when an inconvenience or unforeseen problem arises” and its origin refers to the death of certain hunting dogs while chasing rabbits.
The meaning of the expression is very different “Picámelo menuo I want it for the hookah”which is generally used in situations where one has little knowledge about a subject that we are talking about. When the interlocutor pronounces this sentence, his intention is get a detailed explanation to be able to follow the thread of the conversation that is taking place.
Finally, regarding the saying “what two heads for a fish broth”it is a recipe as legendary in local gastronomy as the gofio escaldón fish stew. However, its meaning has little to do with that: it is used to allude to the interlocutor’s lack of intelligence wave poverty of his intellect to speak and reason about a case.
