Monday, July 7, 2008

apechugar

apechugar - in the DRAE, this is defined as "to suffer the consequences", but in the contexts I've heard it used, I would translate it as "to take the bull by the horns". Although I'm interested what other people think...maybe I've added an optimist slant to this one.

Basically when something bad happens and life gets complicated, I've heard this advice several times (directed either at me or people I know):

No queda otra que apechugar no más y salir adelante.
Nothing left to do but take the bull by the horns and come out ahead.

This is used in Chile a lot, but since it's in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (DRAE), I'm safe to say it's an expression used in Spain as well, and who knows where else.

But I really like the expression, because pechuga means breast, so I get this mental picture of someone with their chest out taking on whatever it is they must do, which makes me think of Chilean culture and probably Latin American culture...some day I hope to be able to elaborate on this feeling/image I have, but I don't find the words to express this right now.
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anurruti said...

Apechugar is what you said the DRAE says (strange that the DRAE is right in this one, though). It is a colloquial expression for having to "get out there and suffer the consequences" which is just to accept the consequences and pay the price. In some way it can be related to take the bull by the horns, but this is only a consequence of the first, not a synonim.
He lost the house because of gambling. Now he will have to apechugar with repaying the huge debt in his credit card. See, in this example, there is no need for take the bull...

September 15, 2017 at 7:27 AM

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