Hey, there! How’ve you been?

In all languages we have very interesting business slang expressions, and today we’ll take a look at some of them in Spanish.

Our first expression is ser un trepa. Ser un trepa means to be a social climber, because trepar means to climb, especially a tree or a wall. This expression is not used in a very good context because trepas are those people who would do just about anything to get ahead. They’re usually regarded as not very good people by their co-workers.

Ojo con Eduardo, pues es un auténtico trepa. Si no te cuidas él te toma tu puesto. [Be careful with Eduardo because he’s a real social climber. If you’re not careful he’ll take your position away from you.]

Now, if what’s left for you is only the telediario, the news, you might not be in a good situation. The idiom quedar(le a uno) dos telediarios is used when the deadline of a project is around the corner or your vacation time in near its end. If it is applied to a person, it also means they don’t have long to live.

Si sigue trabajando así a Pedro le va a quedar el telediario pues dicen que el próximo mes van a hacer recorte de personal. [If Pedro keeps working like that he’s going to be in trouble because word is that next month they’re going to lay off some people.]

Ser un pica pleitos. Well, that happens everywhere: the shysters! Ser un pica pleitos means to be a shyster, someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law, politics or business. The word shyster comes tentatively from vulgar German, Scheißer (literally, “defecator”).

Es un pica pleitos sin escrúpulos. Haría lo que fuera para conseguir más clientes. [He’s a shyster. He’d do anything to have more clients.]

Now, if you live like a priest, si vives como un cura, in Spanish it means that you live a very good life or have a cushy job. In Spain people think priests live a comfortable life. Any priests to confirm that?

La gente dice que vivo como un cura pues trabajo en casa. Lo que no saben es que trabajo ocho horas exactas al día, como todo el mundo. [People say I have a cushy job because I work at home. What they don’t know is that I work eight hours every day, just like everyone else.]