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Pero hay una frase que no me cuadra y no logro entender a qué se refiere. Es la que está entre asteriscos más abajo.
============================== --A la oposición ideológica natural, ahora se suma otra que el presidente no debió anticipar: la del “fuego amigo” de su exvicepresidente Vargas Lleras y la de Juan Carlos Pinzón quien, *******aunque en medio de algodones*********, criticó “la ausencia de acción” de la administración a la que perteneció como ministro de Defensa y embajador en Washington: casi nada. ¿Qué opina al respecto?
--Sobre temas particulares de política electoral no opinaré. He sido llamado a la Vicepresidencia para dar garantías a todos los partidos políticos y a todos los candidatos. ==============================
No sé si esta es una expresión puramente colombiana o qué. Sospecho que se trata de la idea esa de hacer un "sándwich" entre dos afirmaciones positivas y en el medio una crítica, pero no estoy segura si se refiere a eso.
I really wanted to review all answers before the system automatically graded the question, but it seems I'm late. I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to express my gratitude, though. I am really enjoying going through all answers and discussion posts.
As far as I can see, the two forms are equivalent and John's suggestion is an accurate translation (i.e., the definition of "entre algodones" in the DLE seems to reflect accurately what the source text conveys, and John has supplied a translation that accurately conveys that meaning). Marcelo: I think that in a case like this, you would need to show that this is "a difference that makes a difference" (via a number of well-chosen examples of either the phrase variants in question or of differences in how "en medio de" and "entre" are habitually used). Otherwise, what you are essentially saying is: "Hey, there *may* be a difference here, so give me the benefit of the doubt for assuming that there is one." I don't see how this is helpful.
rather obvious. Like one of these ESPN (Sports) guys had on a blackboard, behind his face, "Everyone should be entitled to MY OWN opinion" ! ;-)) (I consider it a very "humble" viewpoint! :-)) (I have to recognize that some times I share that opinion... ;-)
...that these two forms ('entre...' en el DRAE y 'en medio de...' que no) produce the same (association-related) effect(s)? Idioms that vary slightly in form (as these do here), may also vary---slightly or otherwise---in their effects, and often in subtle ways. Though it may not be clear they do here, nor is it clear they don't. Due to their imaginative nature, I'd say idioms uniquely lend themselves to variation; thus, I'm not so sure it's a moot point.
@ Marcelo, I get it. But in this case, it seems that the "fixed idiom" is so close to the "variation", that to a degree it seems to me like a moot point.
...conjures up images of something 'light' and 'unoffensive,' floating in the midst (<I>en medio de</I>) with <I>algodones</I> being the social niceties, to be contrasted in the following clause with the criticism. I think it's important to understand the potential idiomatic force of <I>algodones</I> in conjunction with a phrase such as <I>en medio de</I> as it may be an example of what Nunberg et. al. call an 'idiomatically combining expression,' and one that is also 'compositional' in nature, i.e., an expression whose 'constituent parts' have 'semantic-distributive properties' that contribute to its meaning, unlike 'fixed idioms,' such as <B>kick the bucket</B> and <B>shoot the breeze</B> (<I>Metaphor and Agency</I> 60).
Not far off the mark, but not exactly *on* the mark the way yours was. Had I taken the trouble to consult the DLE, I could well have produced an accurate translation. Instead, I merely shot from the hip, and the bullet missed the mark.
@Robert & Kathryn, thank you for the "agrees", but
04:06 Jun 29, 2017
in a way your answers were not off the mark... (Right now I don't remember exactly, since looks like you withdraw them), but in a way, or in more than one way, the expression COULD have that color of "sugar-coating" a communication. At any rate, if you search here http://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html, "entre algodones", (without quotation marks) you'll find that there are a lot of examples from Spain, very few from other countries (I saw at a glance, Chile, Colombia, México, Argentina, but the bulk of the examples are from Spain.)
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Answers
2 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +4
with great tact / very tactfully
Explanation: Another option.
JohnMcDove United States Local time: 23:06 Works in field Native speaker of: Spanish PRO pts in category: 16
peer agreement (net): +4