When Desi would get mad at Lucy and is yelling, he sometimes reverts back to Spanish. What was he saying? If you were a speaker of Spanish, did he say anything funny?

Are (or were) people allowed to say obscene words in other languages?

The classic Ricky Ricardo outburst ("Miraquetienelacosaestamujer!") translates roughly to "look what I have in this crazy woman," but it's not the correct connotation! Actually, there was relatively little actual espanol in the series outside of the episodes in which Lucy interacts with Ricky's relatives.

And, given the fact that CBS and Philip Morris were nervous enough as it was over the very idea of a Cuban bandleader being married to a redheaded woman (you'll recall they wouldn't even allow anyone to say "pregnant!"), I suspect Desi couldn't say anything on the air that would slip past a Spanish censor...unless he and the censor were amigos....

When Desi would get mad at Lucy and is yelling, he sometimes reverts back to Spanish. What was he saying? If you were a speaker of Spanish, did he say anything funny?

Are (or were) people allowed to say obscene words in other languages?

I've never heard him outright swearing, though I'm pretty sure I've heard him say "Dios mío!" which is a common expression in Spanish and not frowned upon. But in English it means "My God!" and that English equivalent was not allowed to be said on television back then.

Could more Spanish speaking members of SO please respond to this post so that we can have more answers to what Rickey was saying when he got mad at Lucy. This is a great topic and so far we have only 2 answers. I don't know Spanish but I know over the course of the series he said a heckuvalot more than that!

http://i.imgur.com/SC4WKCN.jpg (http://lunapic.com>)

Could more Spanish speaking members of SO please respond to this post so that we can have more answers to what Rickey was saying when he got mad at Lucy. This is a great topic and so far we have only 2 answers. I don't know Spanish but I know over the course of the series he said a heckuvalot more than that!

I can tell you he never said what's in that caption you posted! But make it a little easy for us. Post a clip you're curious about and would like to have translated.

I can tell you he never said what's in that caption you posted! But make it a little easy for us. Post a clip you're curious about and would like to have translated.

You're absolutely correct. The caption was made up, and imo the words are very cruel to a wife or spouse. Would never have been on TV, especially a sitcom, in those days. What it says is essentially, "Isn't it strange; I was trapped by you, and you don't look sexy any more." Plus, the caption contains wrong punctuation in Spanish.

You're absolutely correct. The caption was made up, and imo the words are very cruel to a wife or spouse. Would never have been on TV, especially a sitcom, in those days. What it says is essentially, "Isn't it strange; I was trapped by you, and you don't look sexy any more." Plus, the caption contains wrong punctuation in Spanish.


Actually, it's saying "It's no surprise I cheat on you! You're not sexy anymore!"

There's the 1954 episode in which Ricky takes a week off and agrees to baby-sit Little Ricky...and tells him the tale of "Little Red Riding Hood" in "Spanglish." It's hilarious, and probably one of the few "I Love Lucy" episodes before Richard Keith's debut in which Little Ricky had more than a few seconds on screen! (I realize California child labor laws limit the time a small child can appear on camera, but there were times Little Ricky was about as important to the plot as a hatrack would be to a moose.)

I have always wondered what Lucy said in Spanish when they had a flat tire and Lucy kicks it and says something. Ethel asks what she said and Lucy said it was something Ricky always did. The last word I could make out is Esta.

The classic Ricky Ricardo outburst ("Miraquetienelacosaestamujer!") translates roughly to "look what I have in this crazy woman," [/I][/B]
Not sure why you made that all into one word.
It's Mira que tine la cosa esta mujer.

It would have been funny if it had been subtitled.

Not sure why you made that all into one word.
It's Mira que tine la cosa esta mujer.

The way you wrote it, that translates as: Look at that tine thing this woman.

Not sure why you made that all into one word.
It's Mira que tine la cosa esta mujer.

I actually thought it was a run together of mira que tiene cosa la mujer esta, that's what it sounded like she said when she kicked the tire on the car she and Ethel rode with Elsa Lanchester in.

The way you wrote it, that translates as: Look at that tine thing this woman.
Missy's pop pop is the one who came up with those letters. I just separated them. See below...

The classic Ricky Ricardo outburst ("Miraquetienelacosaestamujer!") translates roughly to "look what I have in this crazy woman,"

Missy's pop pop is the one who came up with those letters. I just separated them. See below...

Actually, that line appears in Bart Andrews' Lucy books just as I first quoted it. And, as we all know, when some people get really mad, the words tend to run together as one...:talk:

I have always wondered what Lucy said in Spanish when they had a flat tire and Lucy kicks it and says something. Ethel asks what she said and Lucy said it was something Ricky always did. The last word I could make out is Esta.

I love that scene because it actually showed that Lucy picked up some of Ricky's Spanish, even if she didn't know what it meant. It was "mira que tiene cosa esta" that she shouted before kicking the tire - a variation of what other people have quoted Ricky as saying throughout the series.