Cantando bajito

[aleCcowaN]

Cantando bajito is a colloquial adverbial phrase used in Argentina to mean casually, leisurely, unhurriedly, and sometimes playfully.

Once, I heard someone in a British reality talking about "pottering my way to the town" and I understood it to mean "me fui para la villa cantando bajito, haciendo cosas", but I wasn't and still aren't sure about that.

I know putter is preferred to potter this side of the puddle. Did I got it right? How would you say " y cantando bajito se pintó toda la casa en un mes"?

[Rusty]

Cantando bajito is a colloquial adverbial phrase used in Argentina to mean casually, leisurely, unhurriedly, and , sometimes, playfully.

Once, I heard someone on a British reality show talking about "pottering my way to the town" and I understood it to mean "me fui para la villa cantando bajito, haciendo cosas", but I wasn't and still am not sure about that.

I know putter is preferred to potter this side of the puddle. Did I get it right?
Putter (around) = to do something without hurrying
Use potter in British English.


The entire house was painted in leisurely fashion, taking about a month.
The entire house was painted unhurriedly, lasting about a month.
Taking their sweet time, they painted the entire house in a month.

[poli]

You can also use, at snail's pace.

[aleCcowaN]

Putter (around) = to do something without hurrying
Use potter in British English.


The entire house was painted in leisurely fashion, taking about a month.
The entire house was painted unhurriedly, lasting about a month.
Taking their sweet time, they painted the entire house in a month.
Thank you, Rusty. I feel that taking or in one's own sweet time implies somebody not been satisfied with that, what is not the case with cantando bajito:

She's taking her own sweet time about finishing the work. = Está terminando el trabajo a su propio ritmo.

Also, thank you for the corrections, but calling it a reality, without TV or show, is correct in BE.

You can also use, at snail's pace.

That's "a paso de tortuga" and doesn't imply any self enjoyment but it suggests a deliberate attempt to cause delays or at least the inabillity to help them.

If you take the self enjoyment part away from cantando bajito, and the possible pauses to experience such enjoyment, we are rather left with sin prisa y sin pausa, unhurriedly but non-stop.

Also, as a cultural commentary, sin prisa y sin pausa, y evitando acciones y movimientos innecesarios, is the way people living in hot climates work to maximize productivity, so they're called lazy by vociferous goons wearing lumberjack flannels, going left and right, up and down just to produce body heath and little labour.

[Rusty]

I feel that taking or in one's own sweet time implies somebody not being satisfied with that, which is not the case with cantando bajito:

She's taking her own sweet time about finishing the work. = Está terminando el trabajo a su propio ritmo.Yes, I agree that taking one's own sweet time can be construed as a poor use of time (wasting time, killing time, burning daylight), but it can also mean 'at one's leisure' (when one gets a chance, when one has time to kill, when one is free to do something). Perhaps neither of these meanings apply to the phrase in question.

Also, thank you for the corrections, but calling it a reality, without TV or show, is correct in BE.I had no idea.

[poli]

Perhaps there is no direct translation, but one that's close is slowly but surely.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you both! My spell-checker in Spanish, includding the words I'm adding in English one by one, is playing tricks on me, and I have to reverse changes it introduces about one each there words. It's kind of a nightmare.

I'm pretty pleased with the options you've proposed and I agree that exact matches are as uncommon as honest polititians yet somewhat some uses in one language or regional use partially overlaps with uses in the other one. Registro rarely matches and that makes it a bit frustrating, but that's the fun of it.