Look adversity in the eye

Look adversity in the eye
 

Anyone has the definition of this expression and/or the Spanish translation?

It means that you have to confront adversity.

In Chile we say "Al mal tiempo buena cara"

Gracias, Chileno, buena expresión... no se me habría ocurrido... aunque en España también la usamos. (Con "A" en vez de "Al", o sea: "A mal tiempo, buena cara". :)

¿Agarrar al toro por los cuernos?

Vaya, Angélica... esta sí que es buena. Lo que me hace gracia es que es una expresión que conozco, pero que de alguna forma ni se me había ocurrido. Muchas gracias. :)

Good definition.:)

:thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking: :thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking:

I don't understand...al mal tiempo buena cara and coger al toro por los cuernos, have very different meanings...

I also thought of them as being different, but they can mean the same thing if you take them to mean "confront something yes or yes, no matter what".

Chileno answered you. But when I first got the first answer, I also immediately thought as you did.

However, the basic concept is the same.
"To the bad weather, you put your best face"
"Take the bull by the horns"
While these two idiomatic expressions mean literally different things, they have the same basic concept of having the guts, the ability to confront without flinching the most difficult and adverse situations. I've personally never been in front of a bull, but you have to recognize that a bull is a good specific example of "adversity"... to say the least, what with a ton (or half a ton) of muscles and a couple of pointed horns... Yes, I'd say that's adversity in a big way.
The weather, well, yes... remember the film "The Perfect Storm"? Any storm for that matter tends to be an "adversity"...
Metaphors used in one language may not work in another, but having the concept clear, and "translating concepts" not "words" is what the art and technique of translations is all about... isn't it?
Hope this helps! :)

enfrentarse a los problemas, básicamente "agarrar el toro por los cuernos" muy bien angélica :D

Other common terms in English with similar meaning are bite the bullet/face the music.

Thank you Poli. :)

@Sosia: :rose:

Por cierto, una frase relacionada que decía mi abuelo: "lo que sea que suene" o "lo que ha de sonar que suene": si hemos estado evadiendo hacer algo por temor a que alguien se enoje o a una mala consecuencia, mejor hacerlo de una vez y enfrentar lo que venga.

Bueno, pues eso me recuerda a una obra de teatro del Siglo de Oro, en la que alguien decía: ¡Sabed que habéis de morir, si está de Dios que muráis! (Un poquito fatalista, y provocador, pero supongo que le quita la responsabilidad al individuo, y se la da a Dios...) Y 'adiós muy buenas', como decimos en España.

Yo siempre he dicho 'Al mal tiempo, buena cara'. A lo mejor en mi anterior vida, viví por aquellas tierras . :earth: :idea: :thinking: :)

Bueno, quizá sea sólo mi España (o sea, yo) porque al “guglearla” con “a” da 1.330.000 con “al” da 3.820.000... así que bien podría estar yo subjetivizando “España” con lo que más he oído en Barcelona, Madrid y La Mancha...
Es curioso, que puede ser que vivieras en aquellas tierras “de allende los mares” o en estas tierras “de aquende”, pues muchas cosas que son “arcaicas” en Castilla, son lo normal en Latín América (lo que te platiqué)... en la actualidad.
He visto también que se dice: “to put a brave face on”
O, “si la vida te da limones, hazte una limonada” or “turn lemons into lemonade”... :)

Exacto. Siempre trato de dilucidar si está mal dicho o es que no se usa de esa o tal manera etc...

Es tan fácil decir "así no se dice. Se dice asá" y el que está aprendiendo se queda con una impresión "acaballada", o sea, "herrada" :rolleyes:

Bueno, claro, pero es bueno que quien aprenda conozca versiones de lo mismo, y así, cuando se las encuentra no se queda extrañado... pues de los yerros también aprendemos todos... :)

I just thought I'd add that the expression "Be A Man" has very similar connotations to "look adversity in the eye" although, quite obviously, the former is usually aimed to shame/guilt the person into action.

Very good point - or put aother way:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!