{"id":8723,"date":"2026-02-23T02:23:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=8723"},"modified":"2026-02-23T02:23:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:23:34","slug":"expresiones-intraducibles-to-carve-out-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/02\/23\/expresiones-intraducibles-to-carve-out-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable expressions: to carve out time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we\u00b4re adding another expression to our particular list of untranslatables<\/a>. This time, the original is in English: to carve out time<\/em>, and even though we have an expression with equivalent meaning in Spanish, sacar tiempo<\/em>, which we could translate as \"to extract time\", I believe the English version paints a more vivid image, and therefore, it\u00b4s a. much more powerful metaphor<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literally speaking, \"to carve something out\" involves working with a chisel and mallet, removing portions of a solid block of wood or stone, in order to give it a shape. As you can imagine, it\u00b4s a task that requires intention, attention and great skill; you need to have a very clear idea of what you intend to do, and have the knowledge on how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, transferring that concept to how we manage our time, we often find ourselves in a situation where our calendar is completely full, reflecting our responsibilities at work, at home, with our family, etc., plus another long list of tasks and commitments that we burden ourselves with (and we still don\u00b4t think it\u00b4s enough<\/a>!). Our society nowadays values and rewards being super busy all the time, so we have normalised that way of life, together with the stress that comes along with it. \"There are not enough hours in the day\" is another go-to expression in English that\u00b4s a symptom of this big problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u00b4s why we find it so difficult to establish new habits to help us improve our health and wellbeing; we\u00b4re already exhausted, and we feel there\u00b4s no time for anything else. And that\u00b4s why I think this metaphor of the chisel and mallet is so relevant here: it\u00b4s not a question of simply \"making time\"; it\u00b4s about using that time strategically, building something with it, something that\u00b4s going to benefit us more than continuing to do everything the same way as before. And that requires intention, attention and a great skill, as well as consistency, to keep up the habit afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason I mention all this is because I\u00b4ve been wanting for some time to resume my old habit of reading<\/a>, as I\u00b4ve kind of abandoned it in recent times. And want to resume it, among other reasons, because I believe it\u00b4s both more difficult than ever and more important than ever to keep it alive. I don\u00b4t have time right now to list all the benefits of reading (I encourage you to look them up, they\u00b4re impressive), but what I can do is share a quote from Dr. Seuss that I saw in a well-known bookstore in Dublin, and that I find very fitting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go\".<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
What about you? What would you like to carve out time for? And what\u00b4s preventing you from doing it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hoy a\u00f1adimos otra expresi\u00f3n a nuestra lista particular de intraducibles. Esta vez, el original est\u00e1 en ingl\u00e9s: to carve out time, y aunque tenemos una expresi\u00f3n de significado equivalente en espa\u00f1ol, sacar tiempo, me parece que la versi\u00f3n en ingl\u00e9s es mucho m\u00e1s gr\u00e1fica, y por eso resulta una met\u00e1fora mucho m\u00e1s potente. Literalmente, \u00abto … Continue reading Untranslatable expressions: to carve out time<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":8726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Expresiones intraducibles: to carve out time \/ Untranslatable expressions: to carve out time","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Nueva semana, nueva oportunidad \/ New week, new opportunity","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4990,5145,5001],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiracion-inspiration","category-intraducibles","category-palabras-words","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2gH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1943,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2023\/01\/23\/frases-intraducibles-getting-out-of-your-own-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":0},"title":"Untranslatable sentences: getting out of your own way","author":"binarybea","date":"23\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy toca hablar de otra de esas expresiones que me encantan en ingl\u00e9s y que creo que pierden la gracia al traducirlas al espa\u00f1ol. Se trata de \"getting out of your own way\", que b\u00e1sicamente quiere decir dejar de estorbarte a ti mismo, en el sentido de dejar de ser\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coaching"","block_context":{"text":"Coaching","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/coaching\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pexels-photo-531290.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pexels-photo-531290.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pexels-photo-531290.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pexels-photo-531290.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pexels-photo-531290.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8469,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/12\/28\/juegos-de-palabras-intraducibles\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":1},"title":"Untranslatable word plays","author":"binarybea","date":"28\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy a\u00f1adimos otra subcategor\u00eda a uno de los temas recurrentes de este blog: los \u00abintraducibles\u00bb: palabras, frases y expresiones que me parecen muy torpes de traducir del espa\u00f1ol al ingl\u00e9s o viceversa. El otro d\u00eda estaba curioseando por El Corte Ingl\u00e9s (unos grandes almacenes muy famosos en Espa\u00f1a) y me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Intraducibles"","block_context":{"text":"Intraducibles","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2022\/02\/20\/frases-intraducibles-o-casi\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":2},"title":"Untranslatable sentences (or nearly)","author":"binarybea","date":"20\/02\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Seguramente os habr\u00e9is dado cuenta de que este blog es biling\u00fce: se publica en espa\u00f1ol (o castellano), y tambi\u00e9n en ingl\u00e9s. Tengo la suerte de hablar los dos idiomas, y adem\u00e1s soy traductora aficionada, as\u00ed que con este blog disfruto por partida doble: primero escribiendo el post de la semana,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Intraducibles"","block_context":{"text":"Intraducibles","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wooden scrabble-like letters in a pile","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-photo-278887.jpeg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-photo-278887.jpeg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-photo-278887.jpeg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-photo-278887.jpeg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-photo-278887.jpeg?fit=1200%2C857&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1194,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2022\/08\/15\/frases-intraducibles-back-to-basics\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":3},"title":"Untranslatable sentences: back to basics","author":"binarybea","date":"15\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Aqu\u00ed va otra frase en ingl\u00e9s de esas que me gusta llamar \"intraducibles\" - no es que no se puedan traducir al espa\u00f1ol, pero en ingl\u00e9s suenan much\u00edsimo mejor, para mi gusto, y la traducci\u00f3n digamos que hay que explicarla para que se entienda bien (otras frases y expresiones aqu\u00ed,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"woman doing hand heart sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-1535244.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-1535244.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-1535244.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-1535244.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pexels-photo-1535244.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8132,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/11\/10\/expresiones-intraducibles-do-your-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":4},"title":"Untranslatable expressions: do your best","author":"binarybea","date":"10\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy os traigo una expresi\u00f3n en ingl\u00e9s que no es que sea exactamente intraducible, pero que al traducirla al espa\u00f1ol me parece como que pierde un poco de fuerza, y resulta menos impactante: Do your best. 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La\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20210903_180018-e1762729621670.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20210903_180018-e1762729621670.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20210903_180018-e1762729621670.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20210903_180018-e1762729621670.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20210903_180018-e1762729621670.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1738,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2022\/11\/14\/frases-intraducibles-walking-down-memory-lane\/","url_meta":{"origin":8723,"position":5},"title":"Untranslatable sentences: walking down memory lane","author":"binarybea","date":"14\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy os traigo otra expresi\u00f3n de esas \"intraducibles\" que me encanta en ingl\u00e9s, porque me parece una met\u00e1fora muy chula: walking down memory lane, que en espa\u00f1ol ser\u00eda algo as\u00ed como \"darse un paseo por la calle de los recuerdos\". 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