cuentas de la lechera
Meaning: plans or hopes based on fantasy rather than reality; wishful thinking that ignores practical obstacles.
Language: Spanish
Literally: accounts of the dairymaid
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Derived from a Spanish fable in which a milkmaid daydreams about selling her milk and imagines buying chickens that will multiply into wealth, only to spill her pail and lose everything.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- arroz con mango — a chaotic, confused mess or pandemonium.
- sacar las castañas del fuego — to rescue someone from a difficult situation or to solve a problem at one's own risk or e…
- tener su miga — To have hidden depth or complexity; to be more complicated than it appears.
- dorar la píldora — to make something unpleasant more palatable by presenting it attractively.
- arrimar el ascua a su sardina — To arrange matters selfishly in one's own favor; to look out for oneself at others' expen…
- die Suppe versalzen — To ruin a plan or situation through careless excess.
More Spanish idioms
- en la estacada — abandoned or left in a difficult situation without help.
- ahogarse en poca agua — to panic or overreact to a minor problem.
- 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.