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'I'm sad, so I pick at my food' Question about 'pick at' Does it maybe mean: 'Estoy triste, así que molesto a mi comida'? I know it's a phrasal verb and it means eating very little, but I was looking for 'pick at' and it appears as 'molestar/criticar a'. Why? Thank you :)
Jul 4, 2015 2:56 PM
Answers · 6
1
I don't think so, 'molestar/criticar a' is another translation of 'pick at', where it means to bother each other/fight/quarrel. e.g. the children picked at each other all evening. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pick+at If you pick at your food, you eat only a small amount of it. I'm not sure how you translate that to Spanish but I wouldn't have thought using 'molestar' was right, as it doesn't have anything to do with being bothered or upset by the food. I'm sad so I pick at my food. When we read that, we infer that because the person is sad they have lost their appetite. Therefore they only eat a small amount of the food on their plate, and 'go through the motions' of eating.
July 4, 2015
1
as Paul answered, there is no direct translation but, "picotear" is used for eating small portions, a verbalisation I believe comes from the word "pico" ( bird's "beak" ) as a bird eat very little at a time. It is used mostly in spanish for a sustitude for for "appetiser" but i think you can use it : "picoté la comida por que estaba triste"
July 4, 2015
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