A bit of a flap

We often use to flap in the sense of to wave our arms around, something the Spanish are generally supposed to do more often than English-speakers.  So it comes as a surprise to learn that although there is a translation – there is always a translation – it is the not entirely satisfactory one of agitar, which as well as translating to flap also means to wave and to shake.

Aletear or batir will do for the flapping of wings, depending on the speed and the energy of the creature doing the flapping, since aletear also means to flutter while the principal translation of batir is to beat.  It’s easy to spot the ala - wing connection in aleta, which is also the wing of the (human) nose as well as the fin of a fish and the flipper of a diver or a dolphin, both of them designed to flap. 

 

Ondear is another way to describe the flapping that involves a flag waved in a patriotic hand or flown at the top of a flagpole.

To be in a flap is less graphic in Spanish, starting with estar agobiado when you’re in a flap because you’re overwhelmed with work or by events.  You can also use estar nervioso which is adequate but devoid of the English term’s headless chicken nuances.  However, there is one occasion when a flap is still un flap and that is when it part of an aircraft’s wing.

The flap on an envelope is una solapa although it also means the revere or lapel on a coat or jacket.  Should you have a cat-flap (not a good idea in rural areas where it will be used not only by small dogs but occasionally by assorted and not always reassuring wildlife) this is known as una gatera. 

In rural areas, a door can be safer than a cat-flap

Tapa is given by some sources as a suitable translation for flap when it is a leaf on a table, but this is better translated as just that: una hoja.

For those who go camping, a tent flap is un faldón although before Babygros this was also a vital element in that formerly indispensable collection of infant wear - a baby’s layette or ajuar - and which resembled a wraparound maxi-skirt on a very small scale.