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What in the world?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
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What in the world?
¿Cómo se dice "What in the world??" o "What the heck?" en español?
Here's a scenario: I'm at the bank and it is taking FOREVER for someone to get to my transaction in the drive-thru and I want to say "What in the world is going on? What the heck? (Some may say "What the hell")... Is there something other than "¿Qué diablos?" |
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#2
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¡¿Qué demonios?!
This, like the other phrase you listed, translates from the mild 'What the heck'/'What in the world' to the coarser translation you gave. You can use this phrase as a question or exclamatory, by itself, or in a sentence with or without 'por' or 'para'. Last edited by Rusty; January 01, 2012 at 04:16 PM. Reason: changed diablos to demonios, the original intention |
#3
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Quote:
Last edited by Rusty; January 01, 2012 at 04:17 PM. Reason: changes quoted material to match my editted version |
#4
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For "¡¿Qué diablos?!" and "¡¿Qué miércoles?!" (an euphemism for "¡¿Que m*****?!, the latter meaning "What the f***?!" itself) that are just a bit milder than "What the hell?!" you may use a lot of euphemisms (like "What the heck is going on?" or "What on earth is going on?):
¡Caramba! ¿Qué está pasando? ¿Qué cuernos pasa? ¿Qué diantres pasa?
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#5
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Also: "¿Qué demonios?", and of course some swearwords...
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Corrections always very welcome |
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Quote:
(It's "a" euphemism, not "an" euphemism, because the word begins with a consonant sound (yyyyou-phemism), not a vowel sound. I just wanted to give you a little tidbit of help since you helped me!!) Jaja - I learned some swear words while I was in Spain, and also learned that they don't work quite the same in Mexico.. Last edited by Rusty; January 01, 2012 at 11:12 PM. Reason: merged back-to-back posts |
#7
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Thank you. I no longer make that mistake with university (the initial sound is the consonant /j/, written using the international phonetic alphabet). The problem is that in my mind most English words I know have no particular sound -- it works as an only-written language to me --. Imagine my surprise when I learnt the pronunciation of words like procedure or entice.
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