Navaja

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for July 22, 2008

navaja - feminine noun (la) - pocket knife, knife, blade. Look up navaja in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/navaja)

Puede ser muy útil cargar siempre una navaja.
Always carrying a pocket knife with you can be really useful.

[Alfonso]

¿Vives en el filo de la navaja?

[poli]

Does this mean living precariously. (vivir sin pensar en mañana)?

[Alfonso]

Does this mean living precariously. (vivir sin pensar en mañana)?Yes, it might be... but I'm not sure if I understand the meaning of precariously, as vivir precariamente or vivir en precario means with very little to live on.

Vivir en el filo de la navaja means to live dangerously.

[Rusty]

To live on the edge is a very similar way to say the same thing.

[Tomisimo]

Yes, it might be... but I'm not sure if I understand the meaning of precariously, as vivir precariamente or vivir en precario means with very little to live on.

Vivir en el filo de la navaja means to live dangerously.

Then to live precariously and vivir precariamente are false cognates.

[Alfonso]

Then to live precariously and vivir precariamente or false cognates.Great! Who knew? These are really dangerous false friends...
Anyway, maybe it's more common and easy to pronounce en precario, which means the same as precariamente.

Estamos en precario, if you are a shop seller and your goods are gone.

[Tomisimo]

So estar en precario would be to be broke or to be hard up, or something along those lines.