Idiom of the day

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Public Domain
Idioms, not to be confused with idiomas in Spanish, a very common mistake. Idioms are frases hechas or expresiones idiomáticas and are part of everyday language. Native speakers use them all the time.
Today I'd like to share with you something funny that happened in my Intermediate 1 class a few weeks ago. It's about idioms, of course.

Can you guess the idiom by looking at the photo in this post?

That's right! "Do not judge a book by its cover"


This idiom was in a text about Susan Boyle.



When I asked what the idiom meant in Spanish, one student put his hand up and offered an immediate reply:
"No juzgues un libro por la portada"

I asked the rest of the class whether they agreed. Some of them said "yes" and some other students did not know whether that was right or wrong. Other students said the translation in Spanish was
"No debemos dejarnos engañar por las apariencias".

The student who provided the first literal translation was very confident and that made me think. So, I decided to do a bit of research and check whether young and not so young people say "No juzgues un libro por la portada" .

I must admit I was shocked to see that Spanglish expression going around the Internet. I also found that expression in a translation tool that I often use called Linguee.

My question for you is:
  • Have you used that expression yourself? 
  • Should "No juzgues un libro por la portada" replace "No debemos dejarnos engañar por las apariencias"?


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