A la fuerza ahorcan (literally, They hang people by force)
Many times at work (or outside of work too!) we have to do things we don't want to do or don't like to do. These are things that we accept with resignation because if not, we stand to lose something or come out looking bad. It's in these types of situations that we use the expression a la fuerza ahorcan.
Imagine the scene. We see someone walking towards the gallows to serve out their sentence. The prisoner of course, doesn't go easily and is moving forward because he has to—someone, most likely a judge, has decided this fate for him. It is this attitude of the doomed man's unwillingness to keep walking that has inspired this saying. Let's see if we can make it a little more personal. Do you remember that class in school that you absolutely hated but you had to take since it was obligatory for graduation? On top of that, there was a possibility that you wouldn't pass since it was a subject that you weren't good in. You studied and passed the course because a la fuerza ahorcan (you have to grin and bear it).
Well, now that we've thought about it, this saying is one that we can all relate to one way or another. I imagine we've all had one problem or another that we had to resolve a la fuerza and which made us lose our heads a little and gave us a little bit of that anxious feeling.
Other popular Spanish Sayings
- A la fuerza ahorcan
- De noche todos los gatos son pardos
- Lo bueno, si es breve, dos veces bueno
- "Ya que la casa se quema, calentémonos en ella"
- "The house of the soap-maker is a slippery place"
- "Santo era Pedro y negó a su maestro"
- "Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada"
- "En Carnaval todo pasa, hasta los novios a las casas"