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Marro

English translation: Sledgehammer

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:Marro
English translation:Sledgehammer
Entered by: yugoslavia

05:28 Mar 9, 2024
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Construction / Civil Engineering / Construction work terminology.
Spanish term or phrase: Marro
I would like to know the best translation of this phrase from Mexican Spanish into American English.

Colleagues from Spain, feel free to send me your suggestions as well.

It's a translation of a legal deposition done to someone from Mexico. This was done for an American attorney and a witness from this country. He is a construction worker and technician for a construction company in The State of California.

This is for Latin People living in The United States and Americans readers. Is okay to translate it as sledgehammer?

Attorney: How were you doing your work?

Witness: Estábamos trabajando con marros. Nosotros usábamos estos marros para romper las paredes donde trabajamos y también para romper pedazos de metal que traían a la compañía.

Las carretas y las canastas donde ponían estos materiales eran muy pesadas. Las más livianas eran de por lo menos 50 libras y habían otras que eran demasiado pesadas. Yo creo que me lastimé la espalda cargando una de las canastas que era pesada.
yugoslavia
United States
Local time: 00:54
Sledgehammer
Explanation:
The Real Academia Española dictionary lists marrón as a synonym to almádena used in México, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Las Canarias and hence it's quite possible that the word originated from this term.

Further research showed that in México, the term marro is also used to designate a sledgehammer. The second reference below is for a Home Depot hardware store in México that lists marros with pictures. The pictures show that they are sledgehammers.
Selected response from:

Luis García
United States
Local time: 22:54
Grading comment
Gracias Luis
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5Sledgehammer
Luis García
Summary of reference entries provided
We've had this before
philgoddard

  

Answers


13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Sledgehammer


Explanation:
The Real Academia Española dictionary lists marrón as a synonym to almádena used in México, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Las Canarias and hence it's quite possible that the word originated from this term.

Further research showed that in México, the term marro is also used to designate a sledgehammer. The second reference below is for a Home Depot hardware store in México that lists marros with pictures. The pictures show that they are sledgehammers.

Example sentence(s):
  • El obrero uso el marro para derribar la pared.
  • La almádena, conocida en algunas partes de América Latina como marrón o marro, es una herramienta esencial en la construcción.

    https://dle.rae.es/marrón?m=form
    https://www.homedepot.com.mx/herramientas/herramientas-manuales/martillos-marros-mazos-y-cinceles/marro-de-12-libras-24228
Luis García
United States
Local time: 22:54
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Gracias Luis
Notes to answerer
Asker: Muchas gracias Luis. Saludos de Los Estados Unidos.

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Reference comments


1 hr
Reference: We've had this before

Reference information:
Sledgehammer is almádena. I don't think they'd use regular hammers to knock down walls, so maybe mallets.
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/engineering-ind...

philgoddard
United States
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 111
Note to reference poster
Asker: Thanks for your help Mr. Philgoddard.

Asker: Maybe the construction worker doesn't know the type of hammers they were using in that place.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  neilmac: I reckon just "hammer" would do. https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/discovery/ideas-and-adv...
1 hr
  -> Yes, it's not for us to guess what kind.
disagree  Luis García: According to the Real Academia Española in Mexico, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Las Canarias, the term "Marrón" is used as a substitute to almádena.
12 hrs
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