/estiˌɾaɾ la ˈpata/ lit. ‘stretch out your leg’
Spanish idiom, colloquial. To die (said in a casual, joking way).
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Estirar la pata
?
Colloquial and a bit irreverent, like “kick the bucket”: fine for joking about death, a car that finally died or an old printer, but not for telling someone their grandmother passed away. “Pata” is an animal’s leg, which is part of the joke. It’s usually in the past: “el viejo estiró la pata”, “casi estiro la pata”.
Estirar la pata
in real sentences
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No tengo miedo de estirar la pata.
I’m not afraid of kicking the bucket.
Tatoeba, sentence by hayastan, CC BY 2.0 FR
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El viejo estiró la pata antes de conocer a la nieta.
The old man kicked the bucket before he got to meet his granddaughter.
Tatoeba, sentence by hayastan, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Estirar la pata
come from?
No first use is recorded in the sources I checked. English Wiktionary explains it with rigor mortis: a dead animal’s body stiffens and its legs stick straight out. That’s a plausible reading of the picture, but Wiktionary doesn’t cite a source for it, so it’s a theory.
Mistakes learners make with Estirar la pata
Using “pierna”, the word for a human leg. “Estirar la pierna” is just stretching your leg after a long flight; the idiom needs the animal word “pata”.
Other Spanish idioms like Estirar la pata
Spot a mistake in Estirar la pata
?
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