tirarle gollejo al moro

01:33 Jun 24, 2011 

Thank you for your answers. From what I remember of the context, the person was describing something futile, so interpreted it as "throwing a rind at a fortress", fortress because I thought he was saying "al morro" which is the castle/fortress entering the Habana harbor, but Charles Davis' historical context makes sense, and the speaker may have meant that the job was easy, but the colleague was difficult.

I am new to Proz.com and do not yet know how to rate answers or give points!

10:54 Jun 23, 2011 

(Thanks for the compliment!) I must admit that the point you've raised bothered me too. I'm pretty confident the expression as stated means something easy: picking on a defenceless person. But it doesn't seem to fit the context as Ruth describes it. Frankly I suspect that it should be in the negative: "NO era tirarle gallejo al moro", which (continuing the apparently inevitable food theme) suggests to me "was no picnic".

10:04 Jun 23, 2011 

because I have a doubt about this:

Charles is very convincing and his research excellent (as usual), but the way the question is put -"trying to work with a colleague" - suggests it was not a piece of cake. Trying implies difficulty, and Ruth's idea of throwing drops of water at a fire suggests futility.