Shut that door!
¡Qué se escapa el gato! (literal translation - The cat is escaping)
Real meaning: It’s a funny way of asking someone to shut a door, usually to avoid the heat escaping in winter, or simply to get them to shut it after them.
Marina says: This sentence is very appropriate now that the cold days have finally arrived in Madrid. I remember the first time Ben heard this phrase from the man that looks after the garage where he parks his scooter. ¡Qué se escapa el gato!, said the man, and Ben was looking all over the place to see where the cat was 
It was only when he heard the same sentence a second time that he realised there isn’t a cat involved at all!
Ejemplos:
Pedro arrives at his country house on a very cold day and lights a fire in the sitting room. Meanwhile his friend José keeps going in and out of the room leaving the door wide open while he puts the food in the fridge and the suitcases away. Pedro says to José:
¡Que se escapa el gato!
December 14th, 2006 | Posted in: Learn Spanish Phrases | Comments: 7
Comments:
Comment from John
Time: December 15, 2006, 4:28 pm
Marina, if you like curious expressions in Spanish, here’s one in English, which I used to here in my father’s day: if a woman’s slip (combinacion) was showing a man would call attention to it unobrusively by saying “Charley’s dead”. True.
Comment from Edith
Time: December 16, 2006, 10:14 am
I love those Spanish expressions. Keep ‘em coming.
Comment from Pepino
Time: December 18, 2006, 2:43 pm
Me too. I try to commit them to memory as you never know when they come in handy, and I love the reaction I get in the office from my Spanish colleagues when the guiri (me!) comes out with a perfect phrase like these! More please! 
Comment from Houwge
Time: March 30, 2007, 8:22 pm
nice site
Comment from Marina
Time: March 31, 2007, 7:45 am
Thanks Houwge!
I’m very glad you like it.
Comment from Martha
Time: May 22, 2008, 10:57 pm
En Peru dicen “se le sale el gato” cuando alguien necesita vomitar
Comment from marina
Time: May 23, 2008, 1:14 pm
Jajaja nunca lo había oído Martha!!!
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