Rat race

[JPablo]

"To be in a rat race," could be taken a bit literally in Spanish, and we could just said, "estar en un laberinto para ratas", understanding that the "race" is to get away from the maze...

What would be the best translation for this?

"Estar en un laberinto sin salida"
"Estar en el embrollo cotidiano"
"Estar en un tiovivo sin fin"

As I am writing, I remember the French "slogan" if you can call it so, "Metro-Bureau-Dodo", or something of the sort, where people get up in the morning, commute with the public transportation, work x hours, come back and goes to bed, in a continuous and unrewarded routine... but "rat race" has also some hecticness, that probably is not present in the French expression...

Well, that was just an aside, my main concern is on the Spanish. Any ideas and suggestions on the expression will be welcome...

"Tengo que salir de este laberinto para ratas"

La vida es un laberinto... y luego te mueres...
(Life is a b... and then you die...)

(Mejor pongo el post, que si no ya mezclo churras con merinas...)

[Glen]

After several days now no one has yet put forward as an option estar en el ajetreo cotidiano. Would that work?

[JPablo]

Hey, thank you Glen!
Con el ajetreo cotidiano, hasta me había olvidado...
Yes, that is a very good option.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Ajetreo diario sounds a bit better, ajetreo es a bit colloquial, cotidiano is more formal than diario to my ears.

[JPablo]

Ah, thank you Robin. That's a good point too. (When I first "read" your post I thought "sounds a bit bitter" rather than "better"...) :rolleyes: At any rate, it's good to have the different options for different registers...

I am even thinking now on "expressions" such as "el agobio del día a día"... y con eso me acuerdo del "Jour aprés jour, les jours s'en vont, laissant la vie a l'aaaabandon" de Moustaki... (and pay no attention to my French spelling, please... particularly on a Mardi Gras like it is today.)

Corriendo contrarreloj a cada minuto, o "con la hora pegada al c*lo"... serían expresiones relacionadas, o con cierta similitud... o como la canción rockera, "es siempre la misma rutina y ya no puedo más..."

Siempre jugando al "corre-que-te-pillo" con la vida, o en la vida... en una carrera sin fin... hacia el olvido... o hacia la nada... (This is just as another example, nihilist at that... NOT my philosophy, by the way.)

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Con la hora pegada al culo está bien y se usa mucho. Todas están bien.

[JPablo]

Gracias, Robin.