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Conocer el percal

 

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 August 18, 2010, 07:51 AM
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Conocer el percal

Know the truth?
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  #2  
Old August 18, 2010, 09:36 AM
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This is what RAE has for percal.

conocer alguien el ~. 1. loc. verb. coloq. Estar bien enterado de un asunto o conocer bien a alguien.

EDIT: En Chile decirmos "Te conozco, mosco"

Last edited by chileno; August 18, 2010 at 03:26 PM.
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Old August 18, 2010, 01:39 PM
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And Moliner gives this,
Conocer el percal (generalmente con referencia a aspectos negativos). Saber bien cómo es alguien o algo.

El poli (policía
) ya se conoce el percal, y no se va a tragar una mentira...


percal m percale; conocer el percal (fam) to know the score (colloq), to know the
people (o situation etc) one is dealing with
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Last edited by JPablo; August 18, 2010 at 01:40 PM. Reason: Adding Oxford Superlex translation.
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Old August 18, 2010, 02:50 PM
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Hi poli
If you look in the RAE
RAE
Quote:
percal. (Del fr. percale, y este del persa pargāle, trapo).
1. m. Tela de algodón blanca o pintada más o menos fina, de escaso precio.
2. m. Taurom. capote de brega.
in the first you can see the percal is a cheap cloth.
So one who knows "the cheap cloth" (uno que conoce el percal) is someone able to discern wich cloth is valuable or cheap. It's a person who knows the market/affair/people so you can not fool him easily:
So RAE
Quote:
conocer alguien el ~.
1. loc. verb. coloq. Estar bien enterado de un asunto o conocer bien a alguien.
I don't know if you have a sentence similar to....
-a person who can smell rotten fish
-a person who can see thetrue value of a jewel
and so on...
saludos
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Old August 18, 2010, 08:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sosia View Post
Hi poli
If you look in the RAE
RAE

in the first you can see the percal is a cheap cloth.
So one who knows "the cheap cloth" (uno que conoce el percal) is someone able to discern wich cloth is valuable or cheap. It's a person who knows the market/affair/people so you can not fool him easily:
So RAE


I don't know if you have a sentence similar to....
-a person who can smell rotten fish we say :smell a ratHamlet said:there is something rotten in the state of Denmark (he smelt a rat)
-a person who can see thetrue value of a jewel We use it in a negative way: he wouldn't know a diamond if he held it in his hand. He doesn't know sh.t from shinola.
and so on...
saludos
Knows the ropes, and as JPablo said knows the score. He knows his stuff.

Thanks everyone
-
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Last edited by poli; August 18, 2010 at 08:37 PM.
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  #6  
Old August 18, 2010, 09:46 PM
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You're welcome, Poli...
Good data about rats and diamonds!

(Is not Hamlet the one who said "My kingdom for a rat..."? Oops! No, hold my horses... that was the crippled Richard III... and it was a not a rat, it was a horse..)
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