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No dejar titere con cabeza

 

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.


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  #1  
Old September 10, 2015, 08:26 AM
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No dejar titere con cabeza

J Pablo added this to the idiom section. Is this term used in Latin American.
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  #2  
Old September 10, 2015, 12:24 PM
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At least here it's very common.

Something I always liked to say in English and didn't know how. I don't agree with the translations offered. It's not so drastic. It merely means nothing remained unaffected by a certain action:

El presidente obtuvo la renuncia de la mayoría de los ministros. Cayeron funcionarios importantes y varias secretarías cambiaron de manos. No quedó títere con cabeza.

-Vigilá mejor a tu hija que me acaba de arruinar la presentación con sus crayones
-¡Ay! Ya no sé qué hacer, toca todo y rompe cosas. No deja títere con cabeza.
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Old September 10, 2015, 02:00 PM
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Ahora mismo no recuerdo nungún dicho igual a no dejar ningún títere sin cabeza, pero to take no hostages es parecido. La diferéncia es que to take no hostages implica algo sin merced. Entonces si usa to take no hostages para ilustrar el lio que deja un niño, tiene que usarlo con un tono
irónico, o de no, suena mál.
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Old September 10, 2015, 02:08 PM
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Creo que "to take no hostages" se parece más a "no dar cuartel"; quiere decir que alguien no tiene ninguna piedad y "mata" a todo el mundo.
Me parece que el matiz de diferencia es que "no dejar títere con cabeza" es algo menos serio, menos radical... como enfocado más a la destrucción de seres inanimados, aún si se usa para hablar de personas.
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Old September 10, 2015, 02:45 PM
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Sí, por eso el tono en que lo dice cuenta mucho en este caso.
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Old September 10, 2015, 04:17 PM
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Ya veo.
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Old September 10, 2015, 07:38 PM
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I am sure I have also heard: to take no prisioners, but honestly it took awhile for me to think about this. I certainly sounds harsher than no dejar títere sin cabeza.
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Old September 11, 2015, 12:20 PM
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I don't sea any link between "to take no prisoners" and "no dejar títere con cabeza". The English expression speaks of violence and lack of mercy when some actions are undertaken. The Spanish idiom is similar to "leave no stone unturned" in the thoroughness of the action with the huge difference such action doesn't include anybody looking for anything. "No dejó títere con cabeza" means either "not only nothing went unaffected, but almost everything went deeply affected" or "many things were affected; things that should have remained in their original conditions".
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Old September 12, 2015, 07:01 PM
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Hombre, si consideramos la imagen metafórica "literal" "no dejar títere con cabeza" equivale a decir que "hemos degollado a todos los títeres"... Un poquito más fuerte que "take no prisoners" como "imagen"... "To spare nobody" sería una traducción conceptual aceptable, considerando el significado actual de la expresión...

En fin, no tengo mucho tiempo para divagar, pero ahí dejo una reflexión... :-)
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Old September 13, 2015, 07:36 AM
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If the phrase were intended to describe such violent deeds, the word puppet would have been avoided. The proverbial puppet loses its head because of clumsy, uncaring or even merciless shakes or because it's intended to render goods useless, and not because of deliberate violent actions that will only be quenched by having the head rolling on the ground.

In CORDE and CREA, a hundred instances of the phrase, from 1775 on, illustrate its meaning and use.

My favourite, from Pastor Obligado:

Quote:
Aquel año no hubo Santa Rosa.



La hermosa peruana, caprichosa como las tapadas de Lima, no se daba á los vientos de otros años.



Reservaba sus ímpetus, sin duda, para el siguiente, en el cual, como en 1780, no dejó títere con cabeza, viejo con peluca, mástil con vela, ni chimenea con veleta.



Desde entonces viene la comparación popular de "Como el temporal de Santa Rosa."
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