CubaPLUS Magazine

  Like all the peoples of the world, we are very prolific in creating funny idioms or phrases to communicate, especially in colloquial speech, in day-to-day communication, some of which have limited use for a while and others, on the other hand, seem to last a lifetime.

  It's not enough for us to "beat around the bush", "dance with the ugliest" or "I caught you red-handed" that we inherited from the Spanish," what's up",: we have "a ceremil" (thousands) of national idioms, one hundred percent Cuban, of which we advance the first five today.

  So that if one day you walk through our streets or beaches and you are a Spanish speaker, don’t miss anything you hear or what they say to you. The first sentence is: "Let's go or I'm throwing". It's what you do when you don't feel comfortable somewhere or when you think the time has come to leave a certain place.

  It's a kind of "I'm leaving here right now", to the letter, but also cordially. Naturally. Those present or companions who decide to remain they are almost never offended. They shake hands and say goodbye laughing. As a second cubiche (Cuban) idiom we bring you: "You do not calculate me", in which there is a good dose of anger, in certain cases and a warning so that you think carefully about what you do or say.

  But other times, it is used in a festive way to puff us up about the good or ingenious things that we are capable of doing. It all depends, but it always means something like "You can't even imagine what I'm capable of" "Surprise yourself" or "Don't underestimate me." In this case, don't think about a mathematical operation at all. A few years ago the phrase &they took a sabre from me" was invented, and no one uses it when talking about the staging of an old-style knife combat or the presentation of a play or fencing exercise.

   It is used when we feel surprised by an unexpected criticism, or malicious, offensive phrase. In short, when we receive treatment that offends us or leaves us stunned or speechless. But no one physically assaults anyone, when this happens, it is something only verbal. If they tell you that So-and-so did not come to see you because he is "A boat" or they tell you that you are, they want to tell you that they are talking about a person who is not used to fulfilling commitments or the word given, they do not take things very seriously, although they are almost always very close, nice and dear friends.

   It's like justifying them by telling you: Don't listen to him, he's like that and that can't be fixed. He is an ocean liner, they point out. And finally, in that short list of Cuban idioms we will put &Es un quemao" (burnt) which does not refer to any damage caused by fire or arson. Someone who is highly trained or informed about a matter that is usually difficult to understand is called &quemao".

   It is sometimes used admiringly. But others, no, because it refers to someone we doubt is in his right mind. In general, the use predominates when we want to recognize or congratulate a person for his wisdom.