Great Phrase: To be the milk

January 31, 2013 Great Phrase: To be the milk

I generally give the Spanish people/culture/language a hard time in these virtual pages, but they have been known to do and say extraordinary things like coming up with saying that someone or something “is the milk.”

ser la leche [sehr lah leh-cheh] 1. loc. verb. vulg. Ser extraordinario. Este chico es la leche, siempre se queda dormido [colloquial verbal expression. To be extraordinary. "This kid is incredible; he's always falling asleep."]

The example provided by the Real Academia Española (the OED of Spanish) gives you a sense of how it can be used in a variety of ways, from genuine incredulity to ironic detachment. Like most expressions, there isn’t any one translation that really captures what is expressed, but let me throw some examples at you.

Things which are the milk

• Lance Armstrong (both before and after his recent revelations)
• The Duke boys

They just are.

Things which are not the milk

• Hamsters
• Fran Drescher

I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse.

Things which may or may not be the milk, depending on your feelings

• U2
• The Hobbit

I say no to Tolkien but other opinions are available.

Got it? Good. Start referring to things as the milk and see how your respective dairy level rises accordingly. And please let me know what you deign to be the milk!

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Tags: Dairy product, Great Word, Lance Armstrong, Milk, Real Academia Española

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