English to Spanish Social Sciences Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

I have decided to compile a somewhat thorough English-Spanish glossary, a long-standing goal I have had for many years but never actually done. In approximately 10% of the cases, I am recurring to you, my colleagues on Proz, to ask you to help me get appropriate translations into Spanish of a number of idioms.

I want to assure everyone that ALL TRANSLATIONS WILL BE SHARED on the open forum we have in Proz. The way I guarantee this is by choosing “one answer” to which I incorporate many of the other answers, and then I click to save the question and answer on the open Proz forum.

Selection criteria: 1) extensive usage throughout the Spanish-speaking world. I am counting on your help, and since usually colleagues simply agree without adding where they know the translated term to be used, I am not able to specify this in the answers. This is not a commercial enterprise, but rather an informal exercise for the benefit of all of us. 2) Many times there are really creative idioms that are used which, although not used necessarily through the Spanish-speaking world, would be readily understood by all. I am particularly happy to include these in the open forum so that we can all enjoy them in our use, whether literally, or perhaps with an adaptation to the degree that each translator deems appropriate for that particular target population.
Please, when you agree with an answer, mention the countries in which you know such idiom to be used, if not already mentioned by another colleague. Since this project is so time-consuming and endless, and since, like you, I have such a heavy load of translations and interpreting jobs to do and cannot spend umpteen million hours on it, I must count on your help. And although simply listing countries because another translator says so is in no way scientific, at least it is an interesting start.

Finally, I know context is everything. Quite often I will give the meaning(s) in which I am interested, and I will attempt to include a sample. Some sources, such as the Random House Dictionary, already have an example, so there is no need for me to do this, since time is of essence.

Thank you for your help.





The idea is it is the effect of a very small change in the initial conditions of a system which makes a significant difference in the outcome. However, please no definitions -just idioms if there are any for this concept. We are all capable of writing the definitions in Spanish. However, what are the appropriate idioms for this concept?

example:

No matter how slowly and carefully you might read "Oblivion," you will think you're missing important details. That's because you are missing important details. Wallace ignores the traditional rules that govern order of exposition, forcing you to invent them yourself if you want to fill in the narrative gaps. These stories are not about what they seem to be about. Or to put it another way, although craziness and catastrophe figure into most of these tales, what will matter won't be some dramatic event but rather the butterfly-effect repercussions of that event on the characters involved, however tangentially.