{"id":8854,"date":"2026-03-23T01:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=8854"},"modified":"2026-03-23T01:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:23:11","slug":"patitos-en-fila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/03\/23\/patitos-en-fila\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, Google Photos helped me remember where I was approximately a year ago: looking around the shop at a well-known American petrol station chain: Buc-ee\u00b4s (thanks, Tasha!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a section full of posters, placards and greeting cards with really cool messages, and two in particular caught my attention. But before I show you the first one, for the Spanish-speaking folks, I have to explain an expression in English that we could include in the category of untranslatables<\/a>: to have your ducks in a row<\/em>, which literally translates as \"tener tus patitos en fila\". <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever seen a mammy duck walking with her ducklings? They give you a sense of order and discipline, right? Well, that\u00b4s exactly what this phrase conveys: having everything prepared and well organised, everything under control, leaving no loose ends. At work, we use this expression quite frequently when talking about tasks or projects, or, for example, this week, as we\u00b4re getting ready to do our quarterly planning, and we want to make sure everything is in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, once that\u00b4s understood, here\u00b4s the first picture, a greeting card:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

(\"I do not have ducks. Or a row... I have squirrels, and they\u00b4re everywhere.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever seen, or, if you haven\u00b4t, can you imagine, a family of squirrels running and jumping in different directions? Unpredictable and chaotic; the complete opposite of a family of ducks, isn\u00b4t it? Who hasn\u00b4t experienced at least once the feeling that they\u00b4re losing control, and things are starting to get out of hand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which takes me to the second picture, this time it\u00b4s a lovely placard that I was very close to purchasing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

(\"As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I\u00b4m totally flexible)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think this phrase is absolutaly brilliant, and it fits me like a glove, being an Enneagram type 1<\/a> as I am. It humorously portrays the hurdle I tend to trip over much more often than I would like: having unrealistic expectations and then responding rigidly every time they\u00b4re not met (and today it happened again, sorry you got the scolding girls).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linking this idea with the previous one, I realise that, generally, everything is fine and I can go with the flow and be content until one (or several) of the ducklings wanders off the row, and that\u00b4s when I catch a glimpse of chaos and the disaster starts... To me, this placard is a reminder that it\u00b4s easy to make progress when things are going well for us; the difficult part is not to ruin it all when things start going not so well, which, let\u00b4s be realistic, it\u00b4s going to be quite often, because life looks a lot more like the family of squirrels than the family of ducks, however hard this may be to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think of these two phrases? Do you identify with any of them? In which way?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoy Google Fotos me ha recordado d\u00f3nde estaba hace m\u00e1s o menos un a\u00f1o: curioseando la tienda de una gasolinera de una conocida cadena norteamericana, Buc-ee’s (\u00a1gracias, Tasha!) Hab\u00eda una secci\u00f3n repleta de letreros, plaquitas y tarjetas varias con mensajes muy chulos, y hubo dos que me hicieron especial gracia. Pero antes de ense\u00f1aros la … Continue reading Ducks in a row<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":8853,"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 - Patitos en fila \/ Ducks in a row","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":"Si hay cambios de \u00faltima hora, quiero saberlo con dos horas de antelaci\u00f3n... \/ If there are last minute changes, I want to know two hours in advance...","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":[5145,5001],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intraducibles","category-palabras-words","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2iO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9688,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/09\/14\/ventanas-al-mundo\/","url_meta":{"origin":8854,"position":0},"title":"Windows to the world","author":"binarybea","date":"14\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana o\u00ed un comentario en la radio que me pareci\u00f3 curioso: dec\u00edan algo as\u00ed como que muchos j\u00f3venes de hoy en d\u00eda consideran que se puede saber m\u00e1s de c\u00f3mo es realmente una persona por los libros que posee que por su perfil en redes sociales. \u00bfT\u00fa qu\u00e9 opinas?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9635,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/08\/31\/reto-de-30-dias\/","url_meta":{"origin":8854,"position":1},"title":"30-day challenge","author":"binarybea","date":"31\/08\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 opinas de los retos de 30 d\u00edas? \u00bfAlguna vez has hecho alguno? 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