...ya he liado a mis amigos...?

Question

Hola Inma,¿Espero que estés bien? ¡He disfrutado mucho este ejercicio con todas las expresiones idiomáticas! :)Please could you let me know if I've understood these correctly in the context of the exercise: -higos a brevas= once in a blue moon.-a tope= fully, to the fullest.-de punta en blanco= dressed up to the nines, dressed to kill. -se mantiene en sus trece= digging his heels in, sticking to his guns (refusing to go).Also, I'm unsure about the sentence which includes "ya he liado a mis amigos..."  Does liar here mean 'to manage to' or 'to trick'? Gracias

Accepted Answer

Hola Clara
Por aquí todo bien, gracias.
Yes, you got all the right meanings for all expressions. 
For "mantenerse en sus trece" I think your expression "sticking to your guns" is spot on. Here, Dalia is trying to persuade Julián to go to the verbena, but he is being stubborn and doesn't let Dalia change his mind. (He sticks with his position/idea)
The expression "liar a alguien" is very colloquial and very very common. It is when a person manages to persuade someone to do something and this other person finds him/herself into that new situation - as if there wasn't an intention in the first place but it did happen, as if they've been dragged/kind of tricked into something. (but here the tricking doesn't have to be with a bad intention, it just happened). Very often we say someone:
Anda, no me líes... 
for example when we are out drinking and someone is persuading you to stay longer when you've already said that was your last drink and then you were heading home. 
Sometimes we use it pronominaly too:
Mamá, es que me lié con los amigos y no me di cuenta de qué hora era.
This is more like you, yourself, got into that situation without realising it was happening. It's more like getting carried away here, but I can see the connection with the other example from before.
Note that it's always "de higos a brevas" - always with "de".
Saludos
Inma

Answer

Good morning Clara -Inma is, I'm sure, extraordinarily busy, handling a never-ending stream of questions - some of them quite profound - so it seemed worth adding my own comments (assumimg that you have not yet managed to locate a CLAVE dictionary, after your inquiry?) -My source-references confirm the meanings you suggest - although the CLAVE one does give a slightly different nuance or interpretation for "mantenerse en sus trece" - namely "persistir o mantener a toda costa una opinión o idea" [< this expression could well be more accurate here].and for liar it says:"Convencer a una persona por medio de la persuasión, de la insistencia o del engaño"... So it does sometimes mean 'trick', but in the context of the exercise, 'persuasion' fits best.... [There is actually another possible meaning listed for 'liar': "Confundir o complicar, por estar las ideas poco claras o por haber demasiados detalles"].Take care - have a good day!Abrazos,David M

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Buenas tardes David,Firstly, I've just sent you a reply to our previous exchanges.I couldn't agree more David... I'm astounded by the amount of questions posted here lately! I don't know how poor Inma manages to get around to replying to so many. Yes, many of them are certainly profound and require more than a 'few words' answers. So, to this, I appreciate your in-depth reply here, thank you. Ah, of course, liar= persuasion! That makes perfect sense in context of this passage. Que tengas un buen día, cuídate bien. Un abrazo Clara :)

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Thank you Inma -If we were looking for a direct, one-sentence translation for the expression using "liar" [in the dictation exercise], we might consider something like: "I twisted my friends' arms and persuaded them to join me there every night".

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Muchísimas gracias Inma,¡Como siempre me ha dado una explicación perfecta! Ah, now that you mention here- "Anda, no me líes...", I think that I've heard this expression used before! Gracias de nuevo Saludos :)

Answer

That sounds good to me David. 'To coax' also springs to mind or 'to cajole', although I suppose 'to cajole' would be by means of flattery.It's great fun trying to figure out these idioms.Saludos :)