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Fernando Alonso’s Dad

Fernando Alonso, winner of this year’s Formula One Championship, is having some trouble with his father, who allegedly isn’t keen on the young racing driver getting married. It’s hardly world-changing news (except in Spain, where the prensa amarilla is very popular), but as ever there is some fine vocab to be picked up along the way:

El campeón del mundo se enfrentarí­a a un grave problema. Su padre no traga a Raquel del Rosario. Desde hace algún tiempo se viene hablando de los planes de boda del campeón del mundo. Nada hace pensar, en principio, que ningún impedimento pudiera dar al traste con los planes de la pareja. La familia de Rosario, muy religiosa, le gustarí­a una boda por la iglesia. Nada que objetar por parte del piloto. El único escollo al que se tiene que enfrentar Alonso es a la oposición frontal de su progenitor…

So, today’s intriguing words and phrases include: Su padre no traga a Raquel, dar al traste and El único escollo. Would anyone like to offer a decent definition of the bits in bold?

Posted in: Spanish slang | Comments: 7

Comments:

Comment from JohnR

1. Su padre no traga a Raquel – His father can’t stand (dislikes) Raquel.

2. dar al traste – put paid to something.

3. el único escollo – the only hurdle/obstacle

Comment from Marina

¡¡¡Premio para JohnR!!!
Todas las respuestas son correctas.

Aquí­ van tus smilies
:-) :-)

Comment from GregC

Some of us Americans might need a further translation :-)

put paid to – put an end to, spoil, wreck something

Comment from ben

Exactly! Marina needed help with that phrase too!

Comment from rodando.net

Si quiere que se case
Toda la información de Fórmula 1 en http://www.rodando.net, la mejor selección de blogs en es.bitacle.org o uno de los mejores blogs de Fórmula 1 en http://www.rodandoformula1.blogspot.com

Comment from Caroline

Ummm, there appears to be the odd mistake in English cropping up every now and then on your website… surely above you mean ‘except in Spain’ as opposed to ‘accept in Spain’?! (Another one I remember seeing is Easter without the capital letter.)

Apart from that, keep up the good work with all the useful Spanish phrases etc.!

Comment from ben

ooops, thanks Caroline :)

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