# English idiom -\> Mexican Spanish equivalent **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115 "2015-03-03T18:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/1 "2015-03-03T18:50:20Z")
One of the clothes dryers in my apartment building has broken, so I went ahead and placed an “Out of Order” sign on it before somebody else pays $1.50 for 45 minutes of tumbling with no hot air. Then it occurred to me that some of my Mexican, Spanish-speaking neighbors might not understand it (I’m not sure how many of them are fluent in English), so I want to add the Spanish equivalent. However, given that “out of order” is something of an idiom, I’m worried that a direct computer translation might make no sense. Here’s what my Mac’s translation widget came up with: “fuera de servicio” That looks okay to me; it appears that it didn’t translate it literally, but took the idiom status into consideration and came up with “out of service”. Will it make sense to a Mexican Spanish speaker? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/2 "2015-03-03T18:52:25Z")
That’s pretty standard Spanish for “Out of Order.” ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/3 "2015-03-03T19:09:19Z")
Thanks 🙂 _off to amend my sign_ ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/4 "2015-03-03T19:11:33Z")
Better (I think): NO SIRVE. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/5 "2015-03-03T19:17:19Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Better (I think): NO SIRVE. I don’t see why. [“Fuera de servicio” is what you see on signs.](https://www.google.com/search?q=fuera+de+servicio&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=878&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ZAj2VOjkIqThsAT_hYLwAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/6 "2015-03-03T19:18:23Z")
Hmm. Translating “fuera” back into English, I get “it was” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/7 "2015-03-03T19:30:10Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Hmm. Translating “fuera” back into English, I get “it was” That’s its meaning as a verb (imperfect subjunctive of _ser_). As an adverb it means “out” or “outside.” The translation is pretty literal. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/8 "2015-03-03T19:32:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I don’t see why. [“Fuera de servicio” is what you see on signs.](https://www.google.com/search?q=fuera+de+servicio&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=878&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ZAj2VOjkIqThsAT_hYLwAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ) Eh, all right. I guess “no sirve” is what I’d usually say, and I haven’t been in Spanish-speaking countries for a while to picture what’s on a sign. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/9 "2015-03-03T19:59:04Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Eh, all right. I guess “no sirve” is what I’d usually say, and I haven’t been in Spanish-speaking countries for a while to picture what’s on a sign. You might say “No sirve” to someone when referring to an object, but “Fuera de servicio” is standard for signs. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/10 "2015-03-03T20:04:54Z")
Yes. I think you’ve established that. Thank you for the images link. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/11 "2015-03-03T22:47:06Z")
Like the automobile name, “No va”? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/12 "2015-03-04T00:42:22Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Like the automobile name, “No va”? No go, no work. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/13 "2015-03-04T00:50:46Z")
So, “_no el worko_” wouldn’t be correct, I assume? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/14 "2015-03-04T02:27:12Z")
Actually, I can kind of see how “fuera/it was” works here. There is some implication. The literal translation of “fuera de servicio” would seem to be “it was of service”. But the implication of the phrase is “It was, but is no longer, of service”. Or, in plain English, “it used to work, and now it doesn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/15 "2015-03-04T02:28:44Z")
In any case, I taped my damned sign right over the coin slot, so that by itself should get the message across. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/16 "2015-03-04T03:39:43Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Actually, I can kind of see how “fuera/it was” works here. There is some implication. The literal translation of “fuera de servicio” would seem to be “it was of service”. But the implication of the phrase is “It was, but is no longer, of service”. Or, in plain English, “it used to work, and now it doesn’t.” As I said, that’s wrong. _Fuera_ is an adverb, and means “out” in this context, literally “out of service.” The etymology is from Latin _forās_, “outside.” It has nothing whatever to do with the verb form _fuera_, which is first and third person (and formal second person) imperfect subjunctive of _ser_, “to be” (and also of _ir_, “to go.”). The etymology is from similar verb forms in Latin. Don’t rely on on-line translations for word meanings. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/17 "2015-03-04T08:00:30Z")
Yes, and likewise, “afuera” is outside or outdoors. Descompuesto is another possible word, but is more akin to “broken down” - as in totally kaput. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/18 "2015-03-04T15:13:30Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > Descompuesto is another possible word, but is more akin to “broken down” - as in totally kaput. _Dañado_ (damaged) and _roto_ (broken) also work. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/19 "2015-03-04T15:32:20Z")
“No lo trabajo” might get the idea across as well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115/20 "2015-03-04T15:49:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > “No lo trabajo” might get the idea across as well. That translates as “I don’t work it”. I think you mean “_No trabajas_”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-idiom-mexican-spanish-equivalent/714115.md?page=2)