To Cost an arm and a leg

Spanish phrases
  • Costar un ojo de la cara: To cost an arm and a leg or require a lot of effort to achieve
  • Filo: Hunger. Hambre is the correct term.
  • Dejar el ombligo enterrado: The place where a person was born
  • Guachos or guayabas: Both words are slang for eyes. The correct word is los ojos. Pelar las guayabas means to keep one’s eyes peeled.
  • Paquete: Bull or lies.
  • Pasar raspando: To scrape by. We also say, “Pasar dejando pelos en el alambre.”
  • Pelar los dientes: To smile. Sonreír is the correct Spanish word.
  • Ser un saco de mañas: To have many bad habits.
  • Donde el diablo perdió la chaqueta: Very far away.
  • Ya vengo: I’ll be right there.

Christopher Howard has been conducting monthly relocation/retirement tours and writing retirement guidebooks for more than 30 years. See www.liveincostarica.com.

He has a #1 relocation/retirement blog at: https://www.liveincostarica.com/blog, is also the author of the forthcoming 19th edition of “New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica — the official guide to relocation” and the one-of-a-kind bestselling e-book, “Guide to Costa Rican Spanish,” that can be purchased through Amazon or costaricabooks.com