‘Hay Comida En La Casa’ and 9 Other Latino Parent Sayings We Secretly Say Now
While parents all over the world have go-to sayings they use again and again (aka “money doesn’t grow on trees” or “no means no”), we all know Latino parents are something special. Latin American countries truly have a saying for everything, even phrases we just began to understand like “a caballo regalado no se le mira el colmillo,” which basically means you should be thankful for gifts no matter what.
Well, as you probably already know, Latino parents have a saying for everything their kids have ever done — and now we’re finding that we can’t stop saying them ourselves.
We guess everyone does turn into their mother or father after a certain age, because suddenly, we’re saying things like “hay comida en la casa” without a second thought. While we’re thinking this must be the true meaning of adulthood, we thought we would round up everything our parents told us as kids that we say now. Beware: you might feel just a little called out.
1. “Hay comida en la casa”
The classic line we find ourselves saying more and more — especially with all that grocery store inflation. No amount of arroz con pollo will go to waste in this household!
2. “Llevate suéter”
Growing up, anything under 75 degrees was fair game for our parents to yell out “take a sweater” before we had a chance to leave. And yes, that’s us now.
3. “Sana, sana colita de rana”
A scrape? Burn? Cough? Broken bone? Bad grades? “Sana, sana colita de rana, si no sana hoy sanara mañana” will fix it. It’s magic.
4. “Ponte vivaporub”
The cousin to “sana, sana colita de rana,” Vicks Vapor Rub is a Latino institution. Everyone knows “vivaporub” cures everything: from congestion, to pimples, to joint pain. Gracias abuela!
5. “Sarna con gusto no pica”
Who else went out one night, took way too many tequila shots and complained to family about a hangover the next day? You were surely hit with a “mange with pleasure doesn’t itch” which is probably the weirdest Latino saying — but oddly catchy.
6. “Estás aburrido? Ponte a limpiar la casa”
Ah, any Latina mom’s favorite saying. If you grew up Latino, you know that saying you were bored was always a trap: you were always going to be hit with “well then clean the house.” And now we even say it to ourselves, so there’s that.
7. “Ponte medias o te vas a enfermar”
Who came up with this one? While we’re not exactly sure about the science behind it, our abuelas always said cold feet made you sick, so we believe it.
8. “Porque yo lo digo”
“Because I said so” is impossible to argue against, making it the most genius Latino parent saying — so yes, it’s a regular part of our vocabulary now.
9. “Crees que esto es un hotel”
If you have kids or a live-in partner, you might have the classic saying “do you think this is a hotel?” in your toolkit. We finally understand our moms now.
10. “Cuando tengas hijos, te acordarás de mi”
Who else got hit with this one almost every day? Anytime we stepped out of line, our parents were quick to say, “when you have kids, you’ll remember me.” If you have kids today, we’re 99% sure you’ve already used this one.
