#spanish proverbs

[motsimages]

If Spanish proverbs were Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, because I like to imagine Ferengi pulling Spanish folklore, courtesy of an excellent database Ferengi-Spanish for the translator (or a jokester translator who got fired from Starfleet soon after doing this but nobody bothered to change it, it is way too specific):

Rule of Acquisition 46: Quien bien regala, bien vende

Rule of Acquisition 78: Nadie da duros a cuatro pesetas

Rule of Acquisition 134: Comprar y vender buen camino para enriquecer

Rule of Acquisition 202: Comprando al por mayor y vendiendo al por menor, el pobre se hace señor

Rule of Acquisition 53: Sin robar no se junta gran caudal

Rule of Acquisition 60: Haz barato y venderás por cuatro

Rule of Acquisition 91 (one of Quark's favourites): Nadie abre tienda para hacer amigos, sino para hacer dinero

Rule of Acquisition 35: Quien compra al necesitado y vende al recién heredado dos veces hace buen mercado

Rule of Acquisition 69: Ladrones roban millones, y son grandes señorones

Rule of Acquisition 12: Fruto del árbol ajeno, sale de balde y sabe bueno

Rule of Aquisition 74: El que algo quiere, algo le cuesta

Rule of Acquisition 147. Robar mucho es pillería, robar poco tontería

*the number of the rule is made up by me, obviously

**Some of these proverbs are not very well known but some others are used frequently, whatever this means about Spaniards

***One of these days I will translate the real known Rules of Acquisition as if they were conceived the Spanish way proverbs work.

[joeyboy1970]

[amante-de-idiomas]

Proverbio español / Spanish Proverb:

"Algo es algo; menos es nada."

Meaning:

"Something is something; less is nothing. [It's better than nothing. Half a loaf is better than none.]" (ThoughtCo.)

or...

"Half a loaf is better than no bread." (CogWeb)

Usage:

"When something isn't quite what you need, or you hear someone complaining about something that isn't quite up to the standards they were hoping for, you can use this phrase." (Twitter.com/IdiomsinSpanish)

Vocabulario inglés-español / English-Spanish Vocabulary:

algo pronoun = something, anything, somewhat

es verb = (he/she/it/one) is

algo es algo (por lo menos)* = it's better than nothing expression

peor es nada (Latin America) = it’s better than nothing

menos adjective = less, fewer

nada pronoun = nothing, (not) at all

*por lo menos = at least (phrase)

3 Bonus Ways to Say "It's better than nothing" in Spanish

"Más vale algo que nada."

Translation: "Something is worth more than nothing."

English equivalent: "Better a lean jade than an empty halter."

Meaning: "It is better to have an insufficient version of something inherently desirable than nothing at all."

(Spanish proverbs - Wikiquote)

"Algo es algo, peor es nada, y algo vale más que nada / Algo es algo / Vale más algo que nada."

Translation or Interpretation: "Something is something, nothing is worse, and something is worth more than nothing."

Context: "What this means is that when you find yourself with very few of something you wanted a lot of, you should be glad to have a little and not any at all."

(A Dictionary of Mexican American Proverbs)

Sources, Credits and Further Reading:

https://www.thoughtco.com/more-spanish-proverbs-3079512

http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/Spanish-English.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/IdiomsInSpanish/status/568719206503600128

PDF book: "A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish: Core Vocabulary for Learners"

https://es.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/spanish-english/algo

https://www.powerthesaurus.org/somewhat/synonyms

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/es#Verb_13

This post includes text from the Wiktionary entry, “es - Wiktionary”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

The License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

About CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=algo

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english/por-lo-menos

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english/peor-es-nada

https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Spanish_proverbs

This post includes text from the Wikiquote page, “Spanish proverbs - Wikiquote”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

The License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

About CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100215192152AAcKL1f&guccounter=1

https://books.google.tt/books?id=39-sWW7QvUYC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=Mas+vale+algo+que+nada&source=bl&ots=ICgcWDSV0t&sig=0ygCr1GhWTvID5_xy_Aj50lrS5I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwij09eQtOHcAhUD1lMKHXVPAu0Q6AEwE3oECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=Mas%20vale%20algo%20que%20nada&f=false

[quotlrdailyquotes]

Habits begin as cobwebs and end up as chains. — Spanish proverbs

[nycourtneym]

Spanish proverb of the day

Lo pasado, pasado esta. (Let bygones be bygones.)

[pureblessedtarot]

Spanish Proverbs… With a little too much laughter He told her "It's good to have friends even in hell"

[catacademy]

Good luck pronouncing that double 'R' there, human. http://is.gd/catspanish

[catacademy]

This cat was, of course, framed. At least for this picture. http://is.gd/Cat_Spanish