Yesterday I came across an article at Huffington Post entitled La estrategia de vacunación europea pincha en hueso. This is a new idiom to me. According to Collins online dictionary, it means to come up against a brick wall. I found this definition in Spanish at Dual Texts: no conseguir lo que se pretende, fallar en el intento; encontrar oposición o dificultad en alguien o algo. So it basically means to encounter obstacles.
The article in the Huffington Post describes the many difficulties that the European Union is up against as it tries to vaccinate its population in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The obstacles occur in the manufacturing of the vaccine as well as transporting and distributing it. It sounds a lot like what has been happening here in the U.S.
Well, getting back to pinchar en hueso, apparently it is a term derived from bullfighting. When the matador thrusts his sword into the bull's neck, he means to pierce the aorta to kill the bull. But, if he misses his intended target, he hits or pierces the bone.
The origin of this idiom seems rather grisly to me. But, the thought of the dying bull has made such an emotional impression on me that I will probable always be able to remember to use pinchar en hueso when I want to express obstacles in my life!
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