There are people for everything

[Don José]

Hay gente para todo.

En España es famoso el caso de un torero que dijo esa frase en el siguiente contexto:

En una ocasión coincidieron Guerrita y el filósofo José Ortega y Gasset. Al torero le presentaron a Don José como "famoso filósofo", y el matador, con su acento cordobés y el desparpajo que da el saberse el centro de atención le preguntó: “¿Filósofo? ¿Y eso qué es?”. Trataron de explicárselo, el trabajo sobre las ideas, la reflexión y el pensamiento. El maestro taurino, reduciendo aquella parrafada a sus propias palabras comentó: “¿Así que se dedica usted a pensar en las cosas? Hay gente pa to”.

http://curistoria.blogspot.com.es/20...nte-pa-to.html

Quizás por esa razón, la frase se usa bastante, y algunas personas de cierta edad incluso añaden "como decía el torero/ Guerrita".

Is the English translation commonly used?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Don José

Hay gente para todo. Is the English translation commonly used?

There are people for everything. I'm not sure whether this is particularly common, but I've heard it.

[vita32]

Originally Posted by Perikles

There are people for everything. I'm not sure whether this is particularly common, but I've heard it.

Somewhat related is to say in English: There is something for everyone

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by vita32

Somewhat related is to say in English: There is something for everyone

That is unrelated to the original phrase. "Hay gente para todo" means people have the most diverse trades, likings and interests and be capable of almost anything to get their ways. Often said when the speaker knows about a strange job (maquillar cadáveres para una funeraria), about exotic alien customs (almorzar cucarachas fritas), about two contrasting uses or opinions held by the same person (ser asesino a sueldo e ir a la iglesia todos los domingos), or some story of lack of scrupulous to advance in life (denunció a su mejor amigo y así obtuvo el ascenso).

[Rusty]

Given the explanation by AleCcowaN, "There are all kinds" is a phrase that comes to mind. "It takes all kinds" is another. Both would be equivalents to "Hay gente para todo," I would think.

"Different strokes for different folks," may also be what you're looking for.

[Perikles]

I think in the UK the most common expression would be "It takes all sorts".

[Rusty]

"It takes all sorts" is also used in the States.

[aleCcowaN]

It's so difficult -and extremely interesting- to translate these idioms with their exact nuances and the points of view that they imply.

"It takes all sorts to make a world" remembers me Mafalda's "¡Hay de todo en este supermercado de Dios!". If we subtract from that the "Different strokes for different folks" part, which is "Sobre gustos no hay nada escrito" (a we use to add "... dijo una vieja mientras se comía sus mocos"), we have pretty much the sought "hay gente pa' todo". I mean, "hay gente pa' todo" is not intended to promote calm acceptance of human variety, but to brand some behaviours as extreme, anomalous or hardly tolerable.

[Rusty]

"It takes all sorts/kinds" is a good fit. It's said sarcastically, often with rolling eyes.

[Don José]

Both "there is people for everything" and "there are people for everything" give thousands of results in Google. However, I don't know if they are native English speakers.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Don José

Both "there is people for everything" and "there are people for everything" give thousands of results in Google. However, I don't know if they are native English speakers.

I can tell you categorically that "there is people" is simply wrong. In this context, the word people is a plural noun. Google is very bad testing ground, in my view. If you look at the British National Corpus** you get a good representative view of words and expressions for UK English. Here, "there are people" has 261 hits. "there is people" has just one hit, and this is an interview with somebody who is clearly illiterate.

**The equivalent corpus of North American English won't give me access for some reason.

[Don José]

I understand "there is people" is wrong. IMAO , Google is good to know how people speak, but one can't know if they are right or not.

BNC added to my favourites. Thanks.