Fallar a favor

[laepelba]

The main definition of fallar has to do with fail/miss/make a mistake. But when I see it used as fallar a favor it seems to mean to award or rule, like in a court case.

This second meaning seems to have a backwards sense to me.
- El juez falló a favor del demandante. - Does this mean that the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff? Is fallar a favor a phrase that always works together like that and always means to favor one side or another? (If so, it's a bit confusing....)

[Perikles]

A really confusing verb. The GDO gives:

fallar [A1] verbo intransitivo
A (dictaminar) «juez/jurado»fallar a or en favor de alguien to rule in favor* of somebody, to find for somebody; fallar en contra de alguien to rule o find against somebody

B
1 «frenos/memoria» to fail; «planes» to go wrong; algo falló y se estrellaron something went wrong and they crashed; (+ me/te/le etc) le falló el corazón his heart failed; si los cálculos no me fallan if my calculations are right; si la memoria no me falla if my memory serves me well; le falló la puntería his aim was poor; me falló el instinto my instinct failed me; a ti te falla/a él le falla (familiar) you've/he's got a screw loose (familiar)
2 «persona» (+ me/te/le etc) to let … down; nos fallaron dos personas two people let us down

C (en naipes) to trump, ruff

fallarverbo transitivo
A ‹caso› to pronounce judgment in; ‹premio› to award; ‹concurso› to decide the result of

B (errar) to miss; fallé el disparo y di en el árbol I missed and hit the tree

[laepelba]

GDO?

B and C make all kinds of sense to me. A still doesn't....

[poli]

It's interesting that in English we can fall from favor with something, but I'm not sure if I have ever heard fall in favor.
What do you think fellow English speakers? Logically you should be able to, but English isn't always symmetrical.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

GDO?

B and C make all kinds of sense to me. A still doesn't....

Gran Diccionario Oxford - and I seem to remember about 20 years ago that you said you were going to buy it. Or maybe it was a grammar book. Never mind.

The verb fallar is actually two totally different verbs. Fallar from Latin afflare, to blow against, smell, (-> flute) case A, and fallar from falla, defect, fault, cases B and C


Hence the two distinct meanings.

Originally Posted by poli

It's interesting that in English we can fall from favor with something, but I'm not sure if I have ever heard fall in favor.
What do you think fellow English speakers? Logically you should be able to, but English isn't always symmetrical.

Something tells me that you can fall in favour, or if there is a decision to be made, you can fall for one choice or another (as the Judge does in case A). Not sure

[laepelba]

Okay, but you're talking about "fall" vs. "fail" in English. To me, they are two very different things....

[poli]

I am now almost sure I have heard something like the celebrity has fallen in and out of favor with the public. Google, however, doesn't back me up. I think the verb to fall in this case translates to fallar.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Okay, but you're talking about "fall" vs. "fail" in English. To me, they are two very different things....

That's because they are two different Spanish verbs, even though identical in form. I don't see the problem.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

That's because they are two different Spanish verbs, even though identical in form. I don't see the problem.

If "fallar" means "to fail"....
And "fallar a favor" means "to rule in favor of"....
Where does "to fall" come into play?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Sorry to be meddlesome but, Lou Ann, I think the conversation is not exactly about "to fall"; Poli commented rather on the expressions "falling from favor" and "falling in favor" (wich to me they would be in Spanish "perder el favor de alguien" and "tener el favor de alguien").

Perikles just said that "fallar" = to fail and "fallar" = to decide, both come from different etymologies, as the DRAE says.

[laepelba]

Okay - so that brings me back to my original question. "Fallar" meaning "to fail" seems negative. So how does "fallar a favor de alguien" mean to favor someone?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Check the DRAE. They're two different words from two different origins.

[laepelba]

OH!!! THAT's what Perikles was talking about! I didn't follow that part. So, when the RAE has a horizontal line like that, it signifies two different words that are just spelled the same? NOW I get it........... Thanks, all!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Not necessarily. But the parentheses show their etymologies, and in this case, they are different.