Repican y andan en la procesión

English translation: They have their cake and eat it, too

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	Repican y andan en la procesión
English translation:	They have their cake and eat it, too
Entered by:	James A. Walsh

18:31 Nov 10, 2013

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Journalism / Newspaper article about govt. corruption in Colombia

Spanish term or phrase: Repican y andan en la procesión

Hi there. This is part of an article written by a well-known Colombian author and published in a Colombian newspaper. The article is about various levels of government corruption related to royalties received for resources like oil, coal, copper, precious gems, etc., which is almost unbelievable it’s so rife.

From what I can gather, it’s some sort of metaphor alluding to what a jolly old experience it must be to be responsible for both allocating huge amounts of public money, and auditing that expenditure. But I’m really not sure what to do with it. Anything literal sounds like nonsense to me, and I just don’t get it.

Can anyone make sense of it?

Context:

“Los funcionarios que ordenan el gasto de las regalías en Aipe, a 36 kilómetros de Neiva, son los mismos que lo auditan. Se vigilan a sí mismos. Repican y andan en la procesión. En las cuentas de 2010 fue descubierto un probable faltante por 5.200 millones de pesos en contra del patrimonio público.”
_________________

Source: Colombian Spanish
Target: U.S. English

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

James A. Walsh KudoZ activity Questions: 186 (none open) (23 closed without grading) Answers: 1950 Spain
Local time: 10:02

They have their cake and eat it.

Explanation:
Don't know if this works in US English....

(I didn't know the original, but it seems to refer to both getting to dress up and lead the procession, and to getting to ring out on the bells, which of course loses everything in translation!).

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Note added at 12 mins (2013-11-10 18:43:56 GMT)
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Another one has just occurred to me:

"They have their bread buttered on both sides".

Ditto to comment re US English!

Selected response from:

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 10:02

Grading comment

Thanks again, Noni - perfect fit! :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +8

They have their cake and eat it.

Noni Gilbert Riley

3 +6

they are both judge and jury

patinba

Discussion entries: 10

James A. Walsh

Spain

ASKER

Brilliant stuff!

06:48 Nov 11, 2013

Thanks a lot folks - really helpful, as ever!

lorenab23

United States

Charles is correct

03:13 Nov 11, 2013

As Rosa points out (who is in Canada) and yours truly who is in the US you need the "too" at the end :-)

Rosa Paredes

Canada

01:52 Nov 11, 2013

As Charles points out, the expression " have your cake and eat it too" -with the "too", is very common in US and Canada.

Charles Davis

Spain

Mexican version

22:43 Nov 10, 2013

"No se puede chiflar y beber atole: Refrán popular que significa lo que enuncia. De hecho se dice en situaciones en que alguien quiere andar en todas partes y meterse en todo, hasta en las cosas que se excluyen entre sí: repicar y andar en la procesión, chiflar y comer pinole, mamar y comer zacate, etc."
http://abcblogs.abc.es/archivodeindias/2012/09/13/refranes-m...

Charles Davis

Spain

22:41 Nov 10, 2013

Continuing with the food metaphors, there's also "they have a finger in every pie", but it doesn't fit so well.

Charles Davis

Spain

Pending answers from US colleagues...

22:32 Nov 10, 2013

"Have your cake and eat it too" (note the addition of "too" at the end) is in both the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have cake and eat it too

And it comes up in Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay (a song I've always liked a lot):

"Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too.
Why wait any longer for the one you love,
When he's standing in front of you?"

James A. Walsh

Spain

ASKER

Dear U.S. colleagues:

21:42 Nov 10, 2013

Is the expression: "to have your cake and eat it", familiar to your ears? Myself and all answerers/peers so far are European, as far as I can make out. So I'd love to hear some stateside opinions.

Helena Chavarria

Spain

18:55 Nov 10, 2013

As I said 'having their cake and eating it' was what came at once to my mind. But because it was so obvious I decided there had to be an underlying message, so I did a bit of close reading and came up with a different interpretation :)

Noni Gilbert Riley

Spain

Las campanas repican...

18:49 Nov 10, 2013

...surely?!

Helena Chavarria

Spain

18:44 Nov 10, 2013

I understand it to mean that the same people approve of the procedure and then criticise it after they have given their approval.

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +8

They have their cake and eat it.

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 10:02
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Thanks again, Noni - perfect fit! :)

Notes to answerer

Asker: That's a really interesting take on it, Noni, and certainly makes sense to me! Thank you kindly ;)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Helena Chavarria: That's what I immediately thought of but I wasn't completely sure if it would fit!

8 mins

-> Thanks Helena!

agree

Carol Gullidge: your second suggestion best seems more apt to me :)

11 mins

-> Thanks Carol.

agree

Rosa Paredes: That's it, precisely. Saludos! And yes, it does work in US English.

46 mins

-> Gracias Rosa y saludos.

agree

Blanca Collazo: Makes sense! No one can be ringing the bells in church and walking the procession at the same time. That's what these guys are doing and getting away with it.

1 hr

-> Thanks Blanca

agree

Charles Davis: Good one!

3 hrs

-> Thank you Charles.

agree

jacana54 (X): "repicar y andar en la procesión" es una expresión muy usada acá también, tal vez no por los más jóvenes, pero sí muy gráfica como explica Blanca.

15 hrs

-> Gracias Lu, y un abrazo.

agree

Jenny Westwell: "They have their cake and eat it, too" is perfect in both sense and register.

15 hrs

-> Thanks.

agree

Rachael West: Sums up perfectly the meaning

19 hrs

53 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

they are both judge and jury

Explanation:
Just another option

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 05:02
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 40

Notes to answerer

Asker: Cheer, Pat. This works good, too—thanks a lot!

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English translation: They have their cake and eat it, too

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