IdiomDaily Life
Spanish
SpanishEstar de Rodríguez
Meaning: To be a husband left working in town while the family is on holiday.
Literally: To be a Rodríguez
Example: “En agosto la familia se va a la playa y él se queda de Rodríguez.” — In August the family goes to the beach and he stays behind, working and living alone.
Origin: From 1960s Spain, when families spent the long summer holiday at the coast while husbands stayed behind in the city to work. Rodríguez stands for an ordinary man with one of the commonest surnames, and the phrase was popularized, if not coined, by the 1965 film El cálido verano del señor Rodríguez. Being de Rodríguez is being home alone, with a hint of the freedom that suggests.
More Spanish idioms
- Quedarse de piedra To be stunned speechless.
- Ser uña y carne To be inseparable; the closest of friends.
- Dar gato por liebre To swindle by passing off something inferior as the real thing.
- Importar un pepino To not care in the slightest.
- Ponerse las pilas To get your act together and start working hard.
- Estar en el ajo To be in on a secret or scheme.
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