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ahogarse en poca agua

Meaning: to panic or overreact to a minor problem.

Language: Spanish

Literally: to drown in little water

Category: Nature

Origin: The image is of someone drowning in shallow water—a grotesque exaggeration of a trivial threat.

More idioms — Nature

  • salga el sol por donde quiera — It does not matter what happens or what difficulties arise; one will accept whatever come…
  • ley del hielo — A state of deliberate coldness or refusal to speak to someone as a form of punishment or…
  • írsele la onda — To lose focus or to forget an important point.
  • estar entre dos aguas — To be undecided or unable to choose between two options; to sit on the fence.
  • auf dem Damm — In good health and spirits, recovered from illness or hardship.
  • zu Grabe tragen — to bury or permanently give up on something such as a hope, plan, or wish.

More Spanish idioms

  • morder el polvo — to be defeated or to die.
  • dale que te pego — relentlessly; without stopping or holding back.
  • tira y afloja — a back-and-forth negotiation or struggle where each side gives and takes.
  • a escondidillas — in secret; covertly or without someone's knowledge.
  • como pez en el agua — perfectly at ease in a situation; in one's natural element.
  • de pitiminí — something trivial or of insignificant value.

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