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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

Repican y andan en la procesión

English translation:

They have their cake and eat it, too

Added to glossary by James A. Walsh
Nov 10, 2013 18:31
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

Repican y andan en la procesión

Spanish to English Social Sciences Journalism Newspaper article about govt. corruption in Colombia
Hi there. This is part of an article written by a well-known Colombian author and published in a Colombian newspaper. The article is about various levels of government corruption related to royalties received for resources like oil, coal, copper, precious gems, etc., which is almost unbelievable it’s so rife.

From what I can gather, it’s some sort of metaphor alluding to what a jolly old experience it must be to be responsible for both allocating huge amounts of public money, and auditing that expenditure. But I’m really not sure what to do with it. Anything literal sounds like nonsense to me, and I just don’t get it.

Can anyone make sense of it?

Context:

“Los funcionarios que ordenan el gasto de las regalías en Aipe, a 36 kilómetros de Neiva, son los mismos que lo auditan. Se vigilan a sí mismos. Repican y andan en la procesión. En las cuentas de 2010 fue descubierto un probable faltante por 5.200 millones de pesos en contra del patrimonio público.”
_________________

Source: Colombian Spanish
Target: U.S. English

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +8 They have their cake and eat it.
3 +6 they are both judge and jury
Change log

Nov 12, 2013 21:01: James A. Walsh changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/141521">James A. Walsh's</a> old entry - "Repican y andan en la procesión"" to ""They have their cake and eat it""

Discussion

James A. Walsh (asker) Nov 11, 2013:
Brilliant stuff! Thanks a lot folks - really helpful, as ever!
lorenab23 Nov 11, 2013:
Charles is correct As Rosa points out (who is in Canada) and yours truly who is in the US you need the "too" at the end :-)
Rosa Paredes Nov 11, 2013:
US As Charles points out, the expression " have your cake and eat it too" -with the "too", is very common in US and Canada.
Charles Davis Nov 10, 2013:
Mexican version "No se puede chiflar y beber atole: Refrán popular que significa lo que enuncia. De hecho se dice en situaciones en que alguien quiere andar en todas partes y meterse en todo, hasta en las cosas que se excluyen entre sí: repicar y andar en la procesión, chiflar y comer pinole, mamar y comer zacate, etc."
http://abcblogs.abc.es/archivodeindias/2012/09/13/refranes-m...
Charles Davis Nov 10, 2013:
Continuing with the food metaphors, there's also "they have a finger in every pie", but it doesn't fit so well.
Charles Davis Nov 10, 2013:
Pending answers from US colleagues... "Have your cake and eat it too" (note the addition of "too" at the end) is in both the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have cake and eat it too

And it comes up in Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay (a song I've always liked a lot):

"Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too.
Why wait any longer for the one you love,
When he's standing in front of you?"
James A. Walsh (asker) Nov 10, 2013:
Dear U.S. colleagues: Is the expression: "to have your cake and eat it", familiar to your ears? Myself and all answerers/peers so far are European, as far as I can make out. So I'd love to hear some stateside opinions.
Helena Chavarria Nov 10, 2013:
As I said 'having their cake and eating it' was what came at once to my mind. But because it was so obvious I decided there had to be an underlying message, so I did a bit of close reading and came up with a different interpretation :)
Noni Gilbert Riley Nov 10, 2013:
Las campanas repican... ...surely?!
Helena Chavarria Nov 10, 2013:
I understand it to mean that the same people approve of the procedure and then criticise it after they have given their approval.

Proposed translations

+8
10 mins
Selected

They have their cake and eat it.

Don't know if this works in US English....

(I didn't know the original, but it seems to refer to both getting to dress up and lead the procession, and to getting to ring out on the bells, which of course loses everything in translation!).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2013-11-10 18:43:56 GMT)
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Another one has just occurred to me:

"They have their bread buttered on both sides".

Ditto to comment re US English!
Note from asker:
That's a really interesting take on it, Noni, and certainly makes sense to me! Thank you kindly ;)
Peer comment(s):
agree Helena Chavarria : That's what I immediately thought of but I wasn't completely sure if it would fit!
8 mins
Thanks Helena!
agree Carol Gullidge : your second suggestion best seems more apt to me :)
11 mins
Thanks Carol.
agree Rosa Paredes : That's it, precisely. Saludos! And yes, it does work in US English.
46 mins
Gracias Rosa y saludos.
agree Blanca Collazo : Makes sense! No one can be ringing the bells in church and walking the procession at the same time. That's what these guys are doing and getting away with it.
1 hr
Thanks Blanca
agree Charles Davis : Good one!
3 hrs
Thank you Charles.
agree jacana54 (X) : "repicar y andar en la procesión" es una expresión muy usada acá también, tal vez no por los más jóvenes, pero sí muy gráfica como explica Blanca.
15 hrs
Gracias Lu, y un abrazo.
agree Jenny Westwell : "They have their cake and eat it, too" is perfect in both sense and register.
15 hrs
Thanks.
agree Rachael West : Sums up perfectly the meaning
19 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks again, Noni - perfect fit! :)"
+6
53 mins

they are both judge and jury

Just another option
Note from asker:
Cheer, Pat. This works good, too—thanks a lot!
Peer comment(s):
agree Noni Gilbert Riley : And an excellent one - a touch more formal and therefore probably more appropriate.
1 hr
Thanks, Noni! In view of the context, I also felt that something slightly less colloquial would fit better.
agree Phoenix III : More befitting
2 hrs
Thanks Phoenix!
agree Charles Davis : This is actually more accurate in the context, since the point is that they audit themselves.
3 hrs
Thank you, Charles!
agree Clara Nino
6 hrs
Thank you!
agree Apolonia Dermit
15 hrs
Thanks!
agree Rachael West : great!
18 hrs
Thanks, Rachael!
Something went wrong...