Idioms

The word 'idioms' also means 'sayings' or 'expressions'. This type of construction generally conveys in a few words a meaning which has little to do with the actual words expressed. For example, the English idiom 'that's water under the bridge' doen't really refer to any water or any bridge. Its real meaning is 'there's nothing we can do about it now--it's over and done with'. Sometimes, as in this case, the Spanish idiom will be similar ('es agua pasada'), but more often than not, the English idiom has nothing to do with its Spanish equivalent in a literal sense. For example, look at the English expression 'dressed fit to kill' whose literal translation into Spanish would describe someone set on murder, and whose real translation is 'vestido de veinticinco alfileres' (dressed with twenty-five needles) which doesn't really mean a lot in English.

The point is that these expressions must be learned by rote--exposure and repetition until eventually you can remember them and they make sense to you.

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