Thread: Giddy up?

Hi mvictoria:

Maybe you could start with the origin of the phrase which comes from the terms "gee" (turn right) and "haw" (turn left):


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gee

5.
gee up, (used as a word of command to a horse or other draft animal directing it to go faster.)

I'm guessing that there must be a number of phrases in Spanish for this command.

The word that comes to mind for me would be:

ándele!

Hi mvictoria...I don't know! You would know better than I.

Giddyup itself is a phrase that is uniquely American slang (I think) that has evolved from it's origins as a command for horses and now means about whatever you want it to mean as an exclamation. I think some people say it just because they like the way it sounds.

Depending on context and inflexion it can mean something or nothing. I think of it primarily as a phrase meaning, OK, let's go!...or, get it going!...or, go for it!, or, I'm in!, etc.

In that case maybe, vamos!...jale!...or something like that. What is the context of your translation?

The word I have heard used for giddyup is ¡Arre! and for the animal to stop is ¡So! or ¡So So! I first saw this in a text book many years ago called "Camino Real'. As for the 'So So' - there is a popular song with the words ¡so so caballo!

Originally Posted by Lili Pazos Longart

Vicente is right...it would be depending on what you are translating...and it would be in an informal situation...So if you want it neutral, you would have to say Vamos! , i could have thousands of examples depending on the country and age , what would you use...but with informal things it would change ( there was a time in my country because of a character on tv everyone would say "vayamosle" ( it was from a Colombian soap opera, but it was so famous that everyone was using it...even it would change the expression for example, how many times you have heard that is so "cool"
, not anymore 30 yo or younger are using "that is so sick!"

Saludos Lili. Very interesting about "vayamosle". A similar thing occurred here in the U.S. The TV comedy "Seinfeld" that aired in the 1990s (and is still in re-run) had a character named Kramer and Kramer quite often used the phrase "giddyup!" as an exclamation. It had nothing to do with anything...just a word he used frequently. I'm afraid I'm too old to know what young people under 30 use these days. but I'm sure they have a replacement for "giddyup".

Cheers!