“Water” you know, and perhaps “pour” (verter, servir) too. “Shall I pour the tea” will be a phrase you will hear if you go for “afternoon tea” (tea, sandwiches and fancy cakes) at a friend´s house. You also pour yourself a glass of water a few times every day.
Here our interest is some idioms (modismos) that use “water”. Examine these:
- Mr. Morales “has poured cold water” on the Brexit plan. This means that he has been critical of the plan. In Spanish you might say “Mr. Morales ha echado un jarro de agua fría al plan de Brexit”.
- As a result the plan is “dead in the water”, that is (es decir), it has stopped and has no hope of being progressed (el plan esta acabado).
- Many British people feel like “fish out of water” in the EU. This means that they do not feel comfortable with the European Union. Or they do not “feel at home” (sentirse como en casa) in the EU. Perhaps the people “esta como pez fuera del agua”.
- Mr. Barnier, the Brussels Brexit negotiator, will be “in deep water” if he does not agree a Brexit deal. To be “in deep water” means to be in big trouble.
- One day the British exit from the EU will be “water under the bridge”. If something is “water under the bridge” it is in the past and is no longer important or an issue. Perhaps, the Spanish expression might be “agua pasada no mueve molino” or it is something “ya ha pasado a la historia”.
So “water” will never be the same again!
