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 throughout 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.

definition: in a superior or advantageous situation


example:

What did Bob Woodward know, and when did he know it?

That's the first question that came to my mind as today's (Nov. 16) Page One story in the Washington Post, "Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago," knocked me off my seat, spilling steaming hot coffee all down my Slate insignia bib.

For the last two years, every reader and reporter in America has been adjusting his Valerie Plame timetable, trying to figure out who in the government leaked her name to whom and in what order. Meanwhile, Woodward was sitting mum in the catbird seat, the scoop trapped in his bill. The information would still be there if Woodward's source—unnamed in the Post account and unnamed by Woodward in his "statement"—hadn't told Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald about the conversation on Nov. 3. Fitzgerald deposed Woodward for more than two hours yesterday.