«Muddle” is a noun, an adjective and a verb. As a noun it means “desorden, lio, follón y confusion”. Here are some examples as a noun:
- What a muddle! (¡que desorden, que lio, que follón!).
- The government in Germany is in a muddle (esta confuso). The government does not know what to do (el gobierno no sabe qué hacer).
A room could be in a muddle (en desorden) and arrangements (planes, preparativos) can be in a muddle.
It is also a verb:
- Podemos had muddled up all the papers (… habia revuelto todos los papeles).
- ZP got muddled up during the meeting (ZP se confundio durante la reunion). Here it is a phrasal verb and means “confused”.
- I always muddle up my words when I speak in Spanish.
- You are getting Mr. Bean muddled up with Mr. Zapatero (te estás confundiendo Señor Bean con Mr. Zapatero).
Finally as an adjective (muddle-headed):
- Sanchez is a muddler (atolondrado) and the barons of PSOE (barones) are muddle-headed (despitados, atolondrados).
So a muddle-headed person is a muddler who always muddles up things and therefore is in a muddle!
