Hello all of you out there beyond cyber space.
Here is an old but fairly common idiom. Some of you may have additional imformation about it which  you would like to share.

    Just one example is:

     ONCE IN A BLUE MOON I eat at McDonald’s but I generally prefer other restaurants.

      Most languages can translate this thought but I’m no sure they all do it with as colorful an idiom. For example,  Canadian French would render it as:

     IL ARRIVE TRES RAREMENT que j’ai manger chez McDonald’s; habituellement,  je prefere aller ailleurs.

(It rarely occurs to me to eat at McDonald’s; generally I prefer to go somewhere else).

      Anyhow, I would enjoy hearing any comments. I know there are a couple of Portuguese speakers who respond to this site who would probably know what it is in Portuguese.

      Regards
      Brian Costello
      Seattle, Wa.

I have heard the expression DE TARDE EN TARDE, used in Spanish to mean rarely, or once in a blue moon.

Yf they saye the mone is belewe,
We must believe that it is true.

I found an etymology here.

Sitran

What about this one in Spanish?

DE PASCUAS A RAMOS
   Cuando un suceso ocurre muy de vez en cuando, decimos que pasa "de Pascuas a Ramos". El dicho alude a la festividad de la Pascua de Resurrección, que tiene lugar una semana después del Domingo de Ramos. Por lo tanto, entre ambas festividades, existe un lapso de tiempo de un año menos una semana.

I’m sorry, I don’t dare to translate it.. Is there anyone there who can help me out with this..?

Maybe it isn’t so colourful, but it says a lot about the liturgical tradition in Spain (I don’t know if the sentence is also used in other countries)

From Wordreference.com, under the translation for blue:

blue
adjective

bleu/e
blue film/joke film m/histoire f pornographique

(only) once in a blue moon tous les trente-six du mois

out of the blue  (figurative use) à l’improviste; sans qu’on si attende

The literal translation of tous les trente-six du mois is every thirty-sixth of the month, which, of course, happens once in a blue moon!  (Let’s see now—"Thirty days hath September  . . .  hmmm, which month has 36 days?)   ???

dama:

"de Pascuas a Ramos"

These things (idioms) only translate well from Easter to Palm Sunday.

Sitran

[quote author=Sitran link=board=idiom;num=1077651140;start=0#4 date=02/25/04 at 17:44:44]dama:

"de Pascuas a Ramos"

These things (idioms) only translate well from Easter to Palm Sunday.

Sitran

Since Palm Sunday is the sunday before Easter Sunday, does this mean the only time they can’t be translated is during Holy Week?

Going to Wordreference.com:

Pascua sustantivo femenino
(en Semana Santa) Easter
Pascuas
(= Navidad) Christmas time; Christmas period
¡felices Pascuas! merry Christmas!
MODISMO:de Pascuas a Ramos once in a blue moon
MODISMO:estar como unas Pascuas to be as happy as a lark
MODISMO:hacer la Pascua a alguien (informal) (= molestar) to annoy somebody; bug somebody (informal)
(= perjudicar) to do the dirty on somebody
Pascua de los judíos Passover
Pascua de Resurrección, Pascua florida Easter

[hr]

ramo sustantivo masculino1  [de flores] bouquet; bunch
2  (comercio) (= sector) field; section; department

It appears from the above that Pascua means Easter but that Pascuas means Christmas time or the Christmas period.  So, is a literal translation "from Christmas time to the bouquets" (i. e., from Christmas until spring?)?

Luis (Uncronopio)?  Oscar-Luis?  ¡Socorro!  ¡Auxilio!  M’aidez!   :)

Dear Stargzer,

You can’t translate from a dictionary!  There are too many variables. Boy, did you muck it up!

It’s my fault I should have translated the whole blurb that dama posted.  Here it is:

DE PASCUAS A RAMOS  
   Cuando un suceso ocurre muy de vez en cuando, decimos que pasa "de Pascuas a Ramos". El dicho alude a la festividad de la Pascua de Resurrección, que tiene lugar una semana después del Domingo de Ramos. Por lo tanto, entre ambas festividades, existe un lapso de tiempo de un año menos una semana.  

"When an event occurs just every once in a while, we say that it happens ‘from Easter to Palm Sunday’.  The saying alludes to the celebration of Easter Sunday, which takes place a week after Palm Sunday.  Therefore, between the two holidays, there exists a time-span of one year minus one week."

OK?  

Like many prepositions the "de" here (usually meaning "from") doesn’t translate exactly.

It means something like "about as often as the time it takes between Easter and Palm Sunday."

Sitran

‘Pascua’ can mean Christmas, Easter, Passover, Twelfth Night, or Pentecost.  The original meaning as you may guess was from the Paschal Lamb.  But the plural ‘pascuas’ means something more like our ‘holidays’ and can refer to the Christmas holidays as in ‘Felices Pascuas’ or to the Easter holiday(s), as it does in this idiom.  It is all in the context.

[quote author=Sitran link=board=idiom;num=1077651140;start=0#6 date=02/25/04 at 20:55:29]Dear Stargzer,

You can’t translate from a dictionary!  There are too many variables. Boy, did you muck it up!

Well, you can translate from a dictionary, because in this case Wordreference.com did provide the "once in a blue moon" translation.  It didn’t point out that the plural could mean holidays or holiday season in general.  

Trying to get to the root of an idiom may give one a sense of how the language works.  Take, for instance, the expression "I’ll have your water!" used in Dune by Frank Herbert.  It gives you an idea about the culture of the desert planet Arrakis.  

In the French expression "every 36th of the month" it’s easy to see how it expresses the same sentiment, sort of like "a snowball’s chance in Hell."

. . .
Therefore, between the two holidays, there exists a time-span of one year minus one week."

OK?  

Like many prepositions the "de" here (usually meaning "from") doesn’t translate exactly.

It means something like "about as often as the time it takes between Easter and Palm Sunday." . . .

Yeah, I think I did figure that one out.

. . . ‘Pascua’ can mean Christmas, Easter, Passover, Twelfth Night, or Pentecost.  The original meaning as you may guess was from the Paschal Lamb.  But the plural ‘pascuas’ means something more like our ‘holidays’ and can refer to the Christmas holidays as in ‘Felices Pascuas’ or to the Easter holiday(s), as it does in this idiom.  It is all in the context.

Right, I could see that from the dictionary entries (Pascua de los judíos Passover and Pascua de Resurrección, Pascua florida Easter).  Ramos is the one that threw me.  Would that be Palm Sunday, the "bouquets" being the palm branches?

AHA!  Insight!

Working backwords through Wordreference.com:

palm[sup]1[/sup] noun
(also palm tree) palma f; palmera f
(as carried at Easter) ramo m
palm oil  noun
aceite m de palma
Palm Sunday  noun
Domingo m de Ramos

I’ve noticed with my French dictionary that I sometimes have to travel back and forth between the French and English sections to make sure the word I selected in one languages has a consistent translation to the other, or that it gives a meaning that makes sense.  

(Wordreference.com is a handy shortcut to have.  When you install the links, you can highlight a word in your browser and select from the languages you installed to get a translation.)

Stargzer:

I’ve noticed with my French dictionary that I sometimes have to travel back and forth between the French and English sections to make sure the word I selected in one languages has a consistent translation to the other, or that it gives a meaning that makes sense.  

Good advice!  My Spanish teacher in high school did alot of cross-referencing dictionary work.  It has been an addition ever since!

That way one doesn’t end up saying stupid things like "Besa mi burro" when you mean something much stronger.

Well, I am glad that your hindsight works as well as it does!

Sitran

In Argentina, I’ve been taught that the equivalent for "Once in a blue moon" is "Cada muerte de obispo" (every time a bishop dies).

Silken

Dear Silken,

   Interesting. Not found in standard Spanish dictionaries. Thanks for the info!

   Best Wishes
   Brian Costello
   Seattle, Wa.

I found another [removed]from Argentina?), "cuando la rana tenga cola y el sapo sepa volar."

"when frogs have tails and toads know how to fly!"

Sitran

[quote author=Sitran link=board=idiom;num=1077651140;start=0#11 date=03/18/04 at 19:06:34]I found another [removed]from Argentina?), "cuando la rana tenga cola y el sapo sepa volar."

"when frogs have tails and toads know how to fly!"

Sitran

Well, frogs DO have tails in their tadpole stage . . . I guess the operative word in the expression is "and," so that even if frogs have tails, toads will also have to know how to fly.

Luis?

They are not frogs when they have tails; they are tadpoles.

A frog is a mature tadpole and does not have a tail.  It would be the same as saying that tadpoles don’t have tails in their frog phase.

Sitran

Sitran,

An equivalent in Argentina for "cuando la rana tenga cola y el sapo sepa volar" is "cuando las vacas vuelen" (when cows fly).

Silken:

An equivalent in Argentina for "cuando la rana tenga cola y el sapo sepa volar" is "cuando las vacas vuelen" (when cows fly).

So, are you saying that that is less often then than once in a blue moon?

Thanks!

Sitran