Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Staring contest
Spanish translation:
contrapunteo
English term
United States
My Trusty Linguist
Native in: English 
, Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, Portuguese to English, and 1 more.
Staring contest
I am looking for a comparable idiom, or a pithy way of putting it. I should mention that the expression is being used figuratively.
Thank you!
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Excerpt:
The government said they had cooperating witnesses and that he would go to jail for life. The defendant was unmoved.
The staring contest went on for months, but finally the prosecutors blinked.
PRO (1): Jairo Payan
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Proposed translations
Colombia
"Knowledge and quality"
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Portuguese to Spanish, Spanish to English, and 1 more.
contrapunteo
Evidentemente se trata de una situación en donde nadie cede y lo de competencia o concurso podría no ser adecuado por tratarse de sentido figurado
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Note added at 57 mins (2011-08-15 05:48:43 GMT)
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Otra opción: El tira y afloje
| Gracias Jairo! Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con tu explicacion. El termino esta perfecto para este contexto. : ) |
la batalla de voluntades
Honduras
Personalized service
Native in: Spanish , English
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
prueba de aguante, enfrentamiento, confrontación
| Thanks, Ana. I find the suggestions accurate, although too literal to be able to keep the vernacular tone of the original. I was looking for something as metaphorical/colorful as "staring contest" without saying outright confrontation, which is implied. |
competencia de miradas/el que parpadea pierde
Saludos y suerte!
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Note added at 23 hrs (2011-08-16 03:56:51 GMT)
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I agree it is rather obscure, but, IMHO, so is the expression in the original language. Regards!
| Thanks for the input. However, I disagree with this answer because it doesn't quite convey the figurative sense. |
| agree |
Christian [email protected]
: "el que pestapierde ñea" decíamos en Venezuela.
21 hrs
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|
"el que pestañea pierde" cierto, también podría ser asi. Gracias por la sugerencia. Saludos!
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