/aˈβlaɾ poɾ los ˈkoðos/ lit. ‘to talk through the elbows’
Spanish idiom, everyday. To talk a lot, often without stopping.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Spanish speaker.
How do people use Hablar por los codos
?
Everyday, slightly teasing, and used across the Spanish-speaking world. It describes a person, so it’s usually in the present: “tu hermana habla por los codos”. Adding “hasta” (“even through the elbows”) makes it stronger.
Also said hablar hasta por los codos
Hablar por los codos
in real sentences
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Ese muchacho habla por los codos.
That boy is a chatterbox.
Tatoeba, sentence by cueyayotl, translation by _undertoad, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Él está hablando hasta por los codos.
He won’t stop wittering on.
Tatoeba, sentence by ecorralest101, translation by araneo, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Hablar por los codos
come from?
Spanish Wiktionary quotes Ramón de Mesonero Romanos describing a meeting where everyone “hablaban allí por los codos”, in his Panorama matritense covering 1832 to 1835 (1881 edition). Portuguese has the same picture, “falar pelos cotovelos”. Why elbows is unclear: one popular theory says chatterers nudge their listeners with an elbow to keep their attention, but no source backs it.
Mistakes learners make with Hablar por los codos
Using “con” instead of “por”: “hablar con los codos” sounds like you’re talking with your elbows as tools. The fixed form is “por los codos”.
Other Spanish idioms like Hablar por los codos
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?
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