Hello! We are six students of English Studies from University of Seville, and this is a project of New Technologies Applied to English Language.

BLACK MARKET

- The place where goods or money are illegally bought and sold. In Spanish is “mercado negro”

Example: We sold some cigarettes on the black market during our travels.

ORIGIN

-Its origin was during World War II and it meant the market in buying and selling stolen military supplies. The term had also seen before, during the World War I, when it entered English as a translation of the German 'Schwarzmarkt.' But if you found more information, there’s another possibility: the phrase could have started in 1931 and meant "unauthorized dealing in commodities that are rationed.”

BLUE BLOOD

-It means that there’s someone from a noble, wealthy or aristocratic family. In Spanish means “sangre azul”

Example: Many of the blue bloods of the town went to the opening of the opera.

ORIGIN

During Queen Victoria’s period is used to call a person of royal heritage in many European countries. A popular theory is that describes a condition caused by a rare genetic defect that it’s common in some royal families, because of their habit of only marrying other members of European royal families. So, there was an increasing “haemophilia” tendency inherited by royals.

The actual origin of the term “Blue Blood” for royalty comes from the Spanish phrase “Sangre Azul”, and it used to describe the fact that when the Spanish were conquering lands held by the Moors, the Spanish nobility showed  that they had white, through which blue veins were easily seen, as proof that they were not related to the darker skinned Moors.

Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

-It means to born into a wealthy family. In Spanish there isn’t any equivalent expression.

                                      
                                      ORIGIN                                        This is commonly a phrase to refer to the British aristocracy. "It was a common proverb that few lawyers were born with silver spoons in their mouths."

Mediaeval spoons were usually made of wood. Spoon was also the name of  a piece of wood and it is likely that is how the table utensils. It has been a tradition in many countries for wealthy godparents to give a silver spoon to their godchildren at christening ceremonies. Another theory may be derived from the fact that wealthy people ate from silver spoons while others couldn’t do it.