dar calabazas
- Thread starter scriptum
- Start date
En cuanto al significado el origen no lo conozco.
Un Saludo.
Excuse my ignorance but what does the phrase mean? To give pumpkins to someone? Is it like to feed someone bull****? Just a guess?
I think it is to reject somebody.
Edit: no vi el post anterior a tiempo.
Edit: no vi el post anterior a tiempo.
The meaning is "to reject somebody's amorous advances"
That is correct. "Dar calabazas a alguien" means that you refuse somebody's invitation, approaching, etc.
How is the English expression to define that behaviour?
How is the English expression to define that behaviour?
No hay un frase que tenga un vegetale en inglés 
Pero supongo que el frase "To decline someone's/another's advances" would be appropriate?Por ejemplo:1. He asked her to go out with him, but she declined his advances. OR2. He asked her to go out with him, but she declined his request. In the first example, she is saying no to him totally - she is trying to escape him.. in the second example, the emphasis is more on her answer to his specific question. Like they're good friends and she's said "sorry I don't want to go out with you, but...", this example allows for her to kiss him, for example, without accepting his request to go out. In the first example, she wouldn't kiss or cuddle, or anything like that.That being said, "to decline another's advances/request" is quite formal - you probably would not use it in conversation. The informal version would probably be just: "She rejected him".
Pero supongo que el frase "To decline someone's/another's advances" would be appropriate?Por ejemplo:1. He asked her to go out with him, but she declined his advances. OR2. He asked her to go out with him, but she declined his request. In the first example, she is saying no to him totally - she is trying to escape him.. in the second example, the emphasis is more on her answer to his specific question. Like they're good friends and she's said "sorry I don't want to go out with you, but...", this example allows for her to kiss him, for example, without accepting his request to go out. In the first example, she wouldn't kiss or cuddle, or anything like that.That being said, "to decline another's advances/request" is quite formal - you probably would not use it in conversation. The informal version would probably be just: "She rejected him".o quizas, "she blew him off."
(suena sexual, pero no es)
(suena sexual, pero no es)
Yeh I'd be very careful about using that one... in Australia we'd be a bit surprised at the use of that phrase - it's very rarely used but we do get it, nevertheless the sexual sound is difficult to get past, especially if you're saying it in a spanish accent - rrrrr!
Thank you scriptum, I believe that is correct. I have heard the expression already.
With 'to give somebody the axe' - the idea is that you're cutting them off completely, for example the phrase is often used to say you're firing somebody from a job. It's not really in reference to a request or proposal though...
To turn someone down me suena un equivalente apropiado.
That’s incredible, but now I remember the Ukrainian expression (“daty harbuza”). I heard it several times, when I lived in Ukraine as a child, and forgot it completely. I have searched for the phrase in Google and found the following information: originally, a hollow pumpkin was something of a consolation prize for unsuccessful matchmakers. By giving it to them, the bride meant to say: “my chest is empty, I have no dowry, so you don’t have to feel disappointed”.
Thanks to everybody who replied. And particular thanks to marcoszorrilla.
"Dar calabazas" is an idiom, an it means to give someone the brush off, to make someone fail in an exam or to reject someone´s romantic proposal. In Argentina, although we are familiar with the phrase, it is not usual in everyday language, I guess it is more common in Spain. Some people say that "dar calabazas" to someone means not to give him what he expected because pumpkins are considered a symbol of falsehood, since they have a very thick shell and little content in comparison.
Hope it helps.
Hope it helps.
to have a knock-back
In the social relationship sense, to "brush someone off", or to "give someone a/the cold shoulder" would fit the theme of this discussion (in US English).
However, the overall definition of "dar calabezas" seems to be more of "consolation prize". The history, going back to the Ukraine, was fun and interesting---Thanks to all!
The word's history is probably much longer. "Calabaza" traces back to the Arabic "qerabat" (water-skins), "harbuz" to the Turkish "karpuz". All of them seem to descend from an Old Persian word meaning "melon"...
En una entrevista reciente a Charlize Theron en la que el reportero le pedía matrimonio ella acabó diciendo algo como:
" I have something for you. I'm an axe"
¿Podría ser? No estoy segura de haberlo entendido bien pero lo han traducido como "Tengo algo para ti. Calabazas"
Actualmente podéis ver la entrevista en:
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/407945/theron/periodsita/matrimonio/
" I have something for you. I'm an axe"
¿Podría ser? No estoy segura de haberlo entendido bien pero lo han traducido como "Tengo algo para ti. Calabazas"
Actualmente podéis ver la entrevista en:
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/407945/theron/periodsita/matrimonio/
I would say "to give someone the cold shoulder"
As was said earlier in this thread, there appear to be two meanings of dar calabazas:
To spurn his/her (often amorous) advances.
To flunk a student.
To spurn his/her (often amorous) advances.
To flunk a student.
...........jilt.............
"Para explicar la relación del rechazo amoroso con las calabazas, algunos aluden al carácter antiafrodisíaco que ya se les atribuía en la Grecia Antigua o durante la Edad Media. La calabaza simboliza lo falso o de poco valor, porque resulta engañosa: promete mucho por su tamaño, pero defrauda por ser poco densa e insípida."
Fuente: Blogolengua.