Hondureñismos

Honduran Phrases, Sayings, and Jokes

I love expressions and sayings and little play-on-words jokes. They say a lot about the local culture and are instantly endearing. On this page, I'll post the good ones I hear during my time in Honduras!

Sin maíz, no hay país.

"Without maize, there is no country." Maiz, or mature corn, is a staple in Honduras and has been for centuries. I heard this from our Mayan ruins tour guide and I think it's a very old saying. Said with an accent it rhymes.

La esperanza no llena, pero mantiene.

This is a beautiful expression that I heard from our tour guide during our tour of the Mayan ruins in Copán. It means, "Hope does not satisfy, but it sustains."

Buen provecho.
This basically is the equivalent of bon appetit. It's said constantly. When you sit down to a meal, you say it to those eating with you; when someone serves you food they'll say it; even when you walk through a room where there are people eating, it's polite to say.

Es como ver el diablo en calzoncillo.
This is a campesino expression that means literally, "It's like seeing the devil in his underwear!" You can use it when you've just seen something terrible. 

Las esperanzas mantienen al tonto.

This expression is a bit more pessimistic. It means, "Hopes (or wishes) sustain the fool." From my Spanish teacher in Copán, I learned that it's said when someone is wasting too much time dreaming about the future. It seems like it has a similar ring to "Don't count your chickens before they have," if not in letter, at least in meaning.

- ¿Que le dice un pez a otro?

- ¡Nada!

This is a cute little joke that uses a play on words in Spanish. The first question is, "What does one fish say to another?" The answer is "¡Nada!" which means "nothing," but is also the command form of the verb "to swim," so it can also mean "Swim!" Of course a fish couldn't actually say anything to another, but if it did, it might tell it to swim!

- ¿Cual es el último animal que hizo Dios?

- El delfin

What's the last animal that God made? The answer is, the dolphin, literally, but the phrase, "el del fin" means "the one at the end."(We heard this one from our Canadian friend Julie, who studied with us in Copán!)

- ¿Cual es el animal que es dos veces animal?

- El gato araña.

Which animal is an animal twice? The answer is a phrase that means literally, "The cat scratches," but the word araña is also the word for spider, so the scratching cat is also two animals at once!