Mallorcan idioms and their meanings

Mallorcan idioms and their meanings by Mallorca Free Tour

When you arrive in Mallorca for the first time is always interesting and can be amusing to learn new Mallorcan idioms and their meanings like “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Here there is a list with some Mallorcan expressions and sayings with their meanings. Book your Free Tour o try a Private Tour if you want to learn more!

“Mem” (o “meam”)

Quiet common Mallorcan expression and its translation it’s a little bit difficult, it is said just before speaking when we are thinking about we are going to say and it would mean something like “let’s see”.

“Daixonar” y “això”

Here in Mallorca, when we don’t know a word or that word don’t come out we always use això  and it can be translated as “that”, for example, dona’m es d’això would mean “give me that”

Moreover, we can turn it into a verb: daixonar and it is used as the word això, for instance: Daixonem sa sal would mean “give me the salt”

And the best part: daixonem es d’això, verb and word together! But don’t worry because you will understand what we want to say thanks to the context and actions!

“Uep! Com anam?”

It is our official greeting and it means “Hi, how are you?”

“Mos deim coses”

It would mean “I call you” or “we keep in touch”.

When a Mallorcan person says it…..and he/she never calls or you never know anything about him/her since then…. Don’t worry, it is quite common, that happens the 99,9% of the time, there’s a tiny chance that you and that person talk again in an unlikely future, other dimension or galaxy.

“Cristo en pel, taronges navel”

Expression of emotion or maximum surprise. En pel means “naked” and taronges navel are a type of oranges, so literally translated would be: “Naked Jesus Christ, navel oranges!”

“Xubec”

It is the typical drowsiness after eating and the best solution for that is taking a nap or the Spanish siesta.

Click here and find more information about the traditional gastronomy of Mallorca! Or join us to our daily walking tours through the Old Town of Palma de Mallorca on www.mallorcafreetour.com

“Mesclar ous amb caragols”

“Mix eggs and snails” doesn’t refer to a recipe. We used to say it when during a conversation many differents subjects are mixed among them.

“Cercar a na Maria per sa cuina”

The translation would be: “looking for Mary into the kitchen” and its real meaning is to make your life a mess.

“Gat”

Gat for Mallorcan people means “drunk” and the expression would be: vaig gat o quin gat que duc o gatera that means “I’m drunk”.

“Cap de fava amb orelles”

This idiom is one of the many ways to say “fool” or “dummy” and means literally “broad bean head with ears”.

Other ways to say “fool” are cap de suro (“cork head”) and cap de pera (“pear head”). 

“Què n’ets de poma!”

Literally means “you are an apple” and refers to someone naive.

“Capfico”

It is a dip and the most famous question during spring and summer is anam a pegar un capfico?, “Do you want to take a dip?”

“Uro!”

It has no translation and means surprise and exaggeration, in English could be an OMG!!

“Això és mel”

It idiom refers something delicious but also you can use it when you are so comfortable no matter where you are or the circle.

“Da-li cebes!”

This expression is quite famous and it is used as a “come on!” or “yes, you can!” and it would be translated as “give him/her onions!”, as you can see nothing to do with the reality. Moreover, this expression became quite popular thanks to the song title Da-li cebes! from a Mallorcan musical group known as Ossifar.

One of our favourite idioms! Find more during our free walking tours www.mallorcafreetour.com

“Aii, cavallet, quan eres jove… que hi anaves de pentinat…”

It idiom refers in a funny way the past times, now we are older than then and our skills are getting worse day after day.

And literally translated would be: “oooooh, young horse, when you were young….you looked so well…”

“Quin Cristo…”

We don’t know exactly where this expression comes from, but it is used to refers to something inappropriate alarmingly.

“Vida de burgués…menjar, beure i no fer res”

The idiomatic Spanish expression can be translated into English as:

‘Live the good life’, ‘Have the time of one’s life’ or ‘Live it up’.

These options reflect the idea of enjoying oneself to the fullest, living in luxury or carefree living. The choice will depend on the context.

Learn more Mallorcan idioms and expressions on our post Mallorcan idioms Part II!