“Heat” (calor) you may know. There is a phrasal verb “heat up”. One can heat up a dish (calentar, recalentar), and a debate can heat up (acalorarse) and become “heated” (acalorado).
Here our focus is on two idioms that use the word. Examine these:
- Mr. Rivera has turned on the heat (ha empezado a ejercer presión a ….) on Mr. Sanchez.
- The “heat is on” (ha llegado la hora de verdad) Mr. Sanchez with reference to his policies.
A “dead heat” is a draw (empate) in a game. A person can also “take the heat out of a situation”, meaning that he tries to reduce the tension. In Spanish you might say “reducir la tensión de una situación”.
What does it mean if someone says that Mr. Sanchez cannot “take the heat”? It means that he cannot cope with the rigours or pressures of the job of Prime Minister. We shall see!
