"in the world"

[vita32]

"In the world" is an english phrase that is usually inserted after the interrogatives "what", "when", "why", "how". It seems that the phrase is inserted for emphasis or to indicate surprise, strong feeling or extreme curiosity. For example:

What in the world is that? (What is that!?)
When in the world did you do it? (When did you do it!?)
Why in the world did she do such a thing? (Why did she do such a thing!?)
How in the world did this happen? (How did this happen!?)

How does the above sentences translate in Spanish?

Thank you.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by vita32

"In the world" is an english phrase that is usually inserted after the interrogatives "what", "when", "why", "how". It seems that the phrase is inserted for emphasis or to indicate surprise, strong feeling or extreme curiosity. For example:

What in the world is that? (What is that!?)
When in the world did you do it? (When did you do it!?)
Why in the world did she do such a thing? (Why did she do such a thing!?)
How in the world did this happen? (How did this happen!?)

How does the above sentences translate in Spanish?

Thank you.

Fácil.

¿Qué m... es eso?

¿Cuándo m... hiciste eso?

¿Por qué m.. ella hizo tal cosa?

¿Cómo m... pasó esto?

m... = s**t

[Rusty]

There are more mild expressions, too. The 'm' word is too strong to be an equivalent of the English phrase. 'What in the world' can be used by anybody, with anybody, and no one ever gets offended. I think 'demonios' might even be too strong a word.
Any suggestions?

[irmamar]

I think that intonation is good enough and you don't need to translate directly.

[JPablo]

I tend to agree with Rusty, "¿qué demonios estás diciendo?" is mild enough, and actually it could be considered a bit hackneyed, or too 'refined', as in "¿qué diantre estás diciendo?" being even more 'refined' and even a bit 'archaic'.

Recently I read "El general en su laberinto" by Márquez, and noticed he uses "carajo" and "carajos" rather often, as expletives used by Simón Bolívar... (This is 1800s)

So a "¿qué carajo[/-s] estás diciendo?" would also be an option.

Oxford bilingual gives this example,
who in the world is going to believe that? = ¿quién diablos or demonios se va a creer eso?

Cambridge/Klett gives,
what/who/how in the world ...? ¿qué/quién/cómo demonios...?

So I'd think that the "demonios/diablos" option would be the best...
But as Irmamar says, it could depend on the intonation, the exact mood... The "m" word as noted by Chileno, said in a "mild" way, may not be offensive, depending who is talking and who is talking to...

But in case of doubt... the best is to drink a bit of absinthe...

And what in the world absinthe has to do with the price of fish?
Y, ¿qué demonios tiene que ver la absenta con el precio del pescado?

Not much, just a play on the Spanish saying, "ante la duda: abstente"...

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

You can also take a look at these threads:

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=9258

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=5004

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=6800

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=3589

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=7823

[JosephThomas]

I'm not sure if the advice would have been sufficient for my own question, if it was indeed mine.

The question is looking for a way to say,

"How in this big wide world, have I not come to know
when/where/why/what
this thing we may be talking about is

I find it less of an exclamation then an explanation of how you feel.
could we repeat the advice?

[vita32]

I appreciate everyone's input. I have to conclude that there is no equivalent of this expression in Spanish based on the responses. To me, this english expression does not denote a curse or swear words. If an English speaker wants to use vulgar or bad language there are plenty of that in English that will translate well in Spanish.

Originally Posted by Rusty

There are more mild expressions, too. The 'm' word is too strong to be an equivalent of the English phrase. 'What in the world' can be used by anybody, with anybody, and no one ever gets offended. I think 'demonios' might even be too strong a word.
Any suggestions?

A good explanation, Rusty.

[Rusty]

As irmamar stated, use intonation when you ask the question. ¿Qué es eeessstttooo?
That's how I would ask, "What in the world is this?"