Spoilt for choice

 

There are several ways to spoil, depending on whether the indulged or blighted object is animal or vegetable.  To spoil a child is mimar and one of the first phrases that Spanish children learn to read is mi mama me mima – my mummy spoils me; not only does this beat the cat sat on the mat but seeing it in print at an early age sets a lifelong pattern for mother love and parenting.  A spoilt child is described as mimado although mimoso means affectionate, further proof of how loving frequently comes close to spoiling for Spanish-speakers. 

Malcriar means to bring up badly but it is also regarded as being synonymous with spoiling by those of the “spare the rod” school, as does consentir whose literal meaning is to allow.  Consentido is another description for a spoilt child, illustrating this time how the Spanish still tend to equate an absence of restriction as authorisation for defiance.

Estropear and the adjective estropeado are appropriate for anything that is spoilt because it has gone wrong, ceased to work, is blemished or marred.  Echarse a perder is used for food that spoils or goes off but like the English curdle there is the more specific cortar - it also means to cut - for milk or cream.  Darse un capricho is a self-indulgent, grown-up to spoil oneself and it is not coincidental that a spoilt, demanding child is described as caprichoso although this state of mind and type of behaviour is not exclusive to children and also applies to capricious adults.

To be spoilt for choice is tener mucho de donde eligir but to be spoiling for a fight is andar buscando pelea.  Spoilage is detioro but a spoiler on a racing car or the sort of vehicle favoured by boy racers is un alerón although amongst the most dedicated it remains un spoiler. 

 

A spoiler that gives away the ending of a film, book or television series – pointless in the original version of The Prisoner, for instance, but disastrous for even the tamest Eastenders episode – again echoes English with un spoiler. 

 

Spoils that are booty are botín, which also happens to be the moniker of one of Spain’s leading bankers and just goes to show that some surnames are stranger than fiction.