Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
quien mucho se agacha, el trasero enseña
English translation:
If you act like a doormat, people will walk all over you
Added to glossary by
María Teresa Taylor Oliver
Jul 19, 2019 15:03
4 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Spanish term
Panama
Synesthete with a flair for tasty words!
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Argentine, US, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Latin American, Colombian, Costa Rican, Panamanian, Nicaraguan, Mexican, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Honduran) 
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish
quien mucho se agacha, el trasero enseña
Spanish to English
Other
Slang
Guatemalan Spanish
También, de forma más vulgar: "Quien mucho se agacha, el culo enseña" o "A quien mucho se agacha, el culo se le ve".
I understand is something to do with servility or obsequiousness or submissiveness, but I'd like to find, if possible, an English equivalent that is also somewhat of a "refrán" or popular saying... Or in any case, how would you translate this?
Oh, BTW, it's in this editorial article: https://lahora.gt/gobierno-mentiroso/
"Bien se dice que quien mucho se agacha el trasero enseña y eso le pasó a Morales quien de ponerse de alfombra de Trump terminó convertido en trapeador. "
Thanks!
I understand is something to do with servility or obsequiousness or submissiveness, but I'd like to find, if possible, an English equivalent that is also somewhat of a "refrán" or popular saying... Or in any case, how would you translate this?
Oh, BTW, it's in this editorial article: https://lahora.gt/gobierno-mentiroso/
"Bien se dice que quien mucho se agacha el trasero enseña y eso le pasó a Morales quien de ponerse de alfombra de Trump terminó convertido en trapeador. "
Thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +3 | If you act like a doormat, people will walk all over you |
Marie Wilson
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| 3 +2 | if you bend over too far, you'll get kicked in the butt |
Charles Davis
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Proposed translations
+3
1 hr
Selected
If you act like a doormat, people will walk all over you
Similar idea that might work here.
Other variations:
If you act like a doormat people will wipe their feet on you
If you act like a doormat, people will use you like one
Though the rest of the sentence would need to be adapted.
He offered himself as a doormat to Trump and ended up getting walked all over
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Note added at 1 hr (2019-07-19 16:42:28 GMT)
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The obvious butt-kissing one that springs to mind is a bit too crude. What I thought of was this:
"As the saying goes, if you act like a doormat, people will use you like one, and this is what happened to Morales: he offered himself as a doormat to Trump and ended up getting walked all over."
Maybe there will be more suggestions.
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Note added at 4 days (2019-07-23 15:06:14 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to be of help, María Teresa. It was an interesting question, but as you say, shame about the situation.
Other variations:
If you act like a doormat people will wipe their feet on you
If you act like a doormat, people will use you like one
Though the rest of the sentence would need to be adapted.
He offered himself as a doormat to Trump and ended up getting walked all over
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Note added at 1 hr (2019-07-19 16:42:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The obvious butt-kissing one that springs to mind is a bit too crude. What I thought of was this:
"As the saying goes, if you act like a doormat, people will use you like one, and this is what happened to Morales: he offered himself as a doormat to Trump and ended up getting walked all over."
Maybe there will be more suggestions.
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Note added at 4 days (2019-07-23 15:06:14 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to be of help, María Teresa. It was an interesting question, but as you say, shame about the situation.
Example sentence:
...and if it took a little temporary flattening to mold him into a doormat to have feet wiped all over him he's perfectly fine with that
Note from asker:
| Thanks. This is right on the money. But I used the doormat analogy for the rest of the sentence ("quien de ponerse de alfombra de Trump terminó convertido en trapeador"), so I'll wait to see if other colleagues have other ideas about the first part. :) I had to turn in my translation, so I had to translate it literally ("those who bend too much allow their backside to be seen"), I know, I don't like to do that but I didn't have much time. Thanks, anyway! |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you so much, Marie and Charles! Your contributions are greatly appreciated. Even if I had to turn in my doc, it doesn't matter, I'm always "collecting" variants for my glossaries. And, sadly, this situation with the presidents of both Guatemala and the US is a hot one right now, so I've had to use some sort of "doormat" (or sycophant or butt-kisser or whatever) analogy on more than one occasion... "
+2
4 hrs
if you bend over too far, you'll get kicked in the butt
Or perhaps, a bit longer, you're asking to be kicked in the butt or you're asking for a kick in the butt. OK, it's not exactly a proverb or saying, but it enables you to use a similar metaphor to the original, in a variant that seems to me to fit the situation: getting kicked in the butt is, after all, what people who kowtow (bend over) to Trump get for their pains. It's crude, but not too crude: not as crude as the Spanish expression, I'd say. In particular, if you'd rather not use the doormat metaphor in both halves of the sentence this is a way of avoiding it. I don't think it matters if you do, but perhaps it takes a little of the vigour out of hte sentence.
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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-07-19 19:33:30 GMT)
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If you wanted to tone it down, you could use "backside" or "behind" instead of "butt". In British English we'd say "kicked/a kick up the backside"; I'm not sure whether Americans would say that.
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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-07-19 19:33:30 GMT)
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If you wanted to tone it down, you could use "backside" or "behind" instead of "butt". In British English we'd say "kicked/a kick up the backside"; I'm not sure whether Americans would say that.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Marie Wilson
: A good one, though seems like we were both too late due to deadlines, shame. //Of course, and useful for future reference anyway :-)
30 mins
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Thanks, Marie! Yes, it is a shame. Yours is spot on, but I read María Teresa's note inviting other ideas and thought "why not?".
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| agree |
JohnMcDove
12 days
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Thanks, John :-) Te voy a dar un descuento por cantidad...
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