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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

"después me guardé"

English translation:

then I holed up/then I laid low

Added to glossary by Mercedes Rizzuti
Sep 12, 2012 16:09
11 yrs ago
Spanish term

"después me guardé"

Spanish to English Art/Literary Slang Gangster talk
Hi pals. The word I'm looking for is "guardarse", meaning to hide from the police or someone else.
The text belongs to a movie where a couple of criminals are talking and one of them explains his absence saying " hice un trabajo y después me guardé. Viste como es esto. "
Any idea?
Saying "then I hid" sounds a little formal to me.
TIA!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +10 then I holed up/then I laid low
4 I went into hiding/ I kept out of sight/I LAY low
Change log

Sep 15, 2012 11:54: Mercedes Rizzuti Created KOG entry

Discussion

Gordon Byron Sep 15, 2012:
Sorry, I see that now. And I agree that good grammar is not necessarily important to a gangsta
Charles Davis Sep 15, 2012:
@ David Yes, that was my point. Confusion of "lie" and "lay" is notoriously common. In gangsta rap the standard form of this verb is "lay low", not "lie low", as in NWA's "Straight Outta Compton": "So I'm smart, lay low, creep a while"; the examples are endless: "you better lay low". So yes, I think that a criminal probably would say "I laid low" (past), even though it's wrong; "I lay low" would sound very careful, even refined, precisely because the other form is so common.

Your mention of "lie doggo" brought back happy memories of reading pre-1960s British detective fiction from my father's shelves in my early youth. From NWA to Bulldog Drummond.
David Ronder Sep 15, 2012:
@ Gordon Charles has already established that. His question was whether a crim would necessarily use the right grammar. I suspect not, and agree that "laid low" is probably right for the context. This is flagged as slang/gangster dialogue.
Gordon Byron Sep 15, 2012:
The correct expression, past tense, is I lay low (until the heat was off)
David Ronder Sep 13, 2012:
to lie doggo is a lovely old British English phrase, though probably a bit a anachronistic now, meaning to lie quietly in concealment. I'd probably go with one of Edward's suggestions, but just felt like sharing this one!
m.dictionary.com/d/?q=lie%20doggo&o=0&l=dir
Charles Davis Sep 12, 2012:
laid low I didn't express a preference, but I agree with others that "laid low" sounds good here. But it's just struck me that strictly it should be "lay low", because the verb is to lie low, not to lay low, and the past tense of lie is lay, whereas laid is the past tense of lay. And yet "I lay low" sounds unconvincing; somehow I can't imagine a criminal saying it. "I laid low" sounds right; it's what people say. In fact it took me a while to realise that it's not actually correct English.

Proposed translations

+10
3 mins
Selected

then I holed up/then I laid low

2 options!

History Of the Unnameables - Resultado de la Búsqueda de libros de Google books.google.es/books?isbn=143825332X
Jay Johnson - 1996 - Fiction
I holed up in a Las Vegas hotel like a gangster gone to ground and waited.
Eventually, I make a phone call to D.C. I watch porno's in the hotel room. I ride the ...

The master con man: the true adventures of slippery Syd Gottfried - Página 130 - Resultado de la Búsqueda de libros de Google books.google.es/books?isbn=190048627X
Robert Kyriakides - 2003 - True Crime
The old gangster agreed to go with Brian to get the money back. ... The old
gangster didn't know that I was involved in this. ... I laid low while he got the ticket.
Note from asker:
Thanks, Edward! I'll keep the question opened, but your answer has been of great help already!
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis
6 mins
many thanks! ;-)
agree Claudia Luque Bedregal
16 mins
many thanks! ;-)
agree Simon Bruni
25 mins
many thanks! ;-)
agree Allan Boteler : Laid low is my favorite of the two. Nice choices, Edward.
34 mins
Mine too, many thanks! ;-)
agree Alistair Ian Spearing Ortiz : I'd go for "laid low" too.
1 hr
many thanks! ;-)
agree lorenab23 : Yes, "laid low" :-)
4 hrs
many thanks! ;-)
agree Altogringo : chalk up another one for laid low
4 hrs
many thanks! ;-)
agree David Ronder
12 hrs
many thanks! ;-)
agree Thayenga : Definately "laid low". :)
14 hrs
many thanks! ;-)
agree Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales
2 days 31 mins
many thanks! ;-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you all so much! "I laid low" is my choice. "
2 days 15 hrs
Spanish term (edited): \"después me guardé\"

I went into hiding/ I kept out of sight/I LAY low

another take
Something went wrong...
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