The word “shoulder” (hombro) you may know. This article, however, focuses on the word as an idiom (modismo) – it has some interesting uses.
Let´s review the following:
- Mr. Zapatero gave Mr. Sanchez the cold shoulder.
This means that Mr. Zapatero was unfriendly towards him or he rebuffed him (a rebuff is a “desaire” or rechazo). Or in Spanish you might say “… dio de lado a …”
If you wish to speak directly to someone (hablar francamente), you could say:
- I am going to speak directly from the shoulder (voy a decir sin rodeos). Another similar idiom is “I am not going to beat around the bush” (no voy a andarme por las ramas).
Another use is shoulder as a verb as in “shoulder the blame” which means “cargar con la culpa”. An example:
- I have to shoulder the blame for my mistakes.
You can also “rub shoulders with someone” meaning “codearse con alguien”. Here is an example:
- Mr. Sanchez is rubbing shoulders with Mr. Podemos (…se esta codeando con…).
