Office words with a second meaning
| you know | at work |
|---|---|
| fichar to sign (a player) | fichar to clock in or out |
| el enchufe the socket | el enchufe connections, string-pulling |
| la bronca the row | la bronca the telling-off |
| puntual punctual | puntual one-off |
| el tope the doorstop | el tope the upper limit |
| recurrir to appeal | recurrir a to turn to, to resort to |
A football club ficha a player. In an office, you fichas at the start and at the end of the day, with no object:
| We clock in at eight in the morning. | Fichamos a las ocho de la mañana. |
| Don't forget to clock out when you leave. | No olvides fichar al salir. |
A socket gives you power, and so does knowing the right person. You tienes enchufe or get a job por enchufe:
| She got the job through connections. | Consiguió el trabajo por enchufe. |
Telling-offs and one-offs
A bronca between two people is a row; a bronca from your boss is a telling-off. The boss da (or echa) la bronca a alguien, and the person who gets it se lleva una bronca:
| Today the boss (female) gave me a tremendous telling-off. | Hoy la jefa me ha dado una bronca tremenda. |
Describing a person or a train, puntual is punctual. After nouns like problema or error, or in algo puntual, it usually means one-off:
| My colleague (female) is always punctual; what happened today was a one-off. | Mi compañera siempre es puntual; lo de hoy ha sido algo puntual. |
Maximums and last resorts
El tope is the upper limit. La fecha tope is the last possible date, and a tope is colloquial for 'to the max':
| There is a cap of a thousand euros for expenses. | Hay un tope de mil euros para gastos. |
| This week we have worked to the max. | Esta semana hemos trabajado a tope. |
With a decision as its object, recurrir is to appeal. With a + a person or a means, it usually means to turn to or to resort to:
| We had to resort to a loan. | Tuvimos que recurrir a un préstamo. |
