Caerse de culo
backTo fall on one's arse.
to be blown away; **to be blown away**; **to be gobsmacked**; **to be absolutely stunned**; **to be knocked sideways**; **to be floored**; **to be knocked off one's feet**
Caerse de culo is a vulgar colloquial expression meaning to be extremely surprised, shocked or impressed.
Cuando me dijo cuánto había costado, me caí de culo.
When he told me how much it had cost, I was absolutely stunned.
Me voy a caer de culo cuando vea las notas.
I'm going to be gobsmacked when I see the grades.
Se va a caer de culo cuando descubra quién ha ganado.
He's going to be blown away when he finds out who won.
El concierto fue tan espectacular que me caí de culo.
The concert was so spectacular that I was blown away.
Cuando vi la casa, me caí de culo.
When I saw the house, I was absolutely floored.
It is used when something is so unexpected, astonishing or impressive that it produces a very strong reaction.
Depending on context, it can mean:
- to be absolutely stunned
- to be blown away
- to be completely shocked
- to be gobsmacked
- to be knocked sideways
A common construction is:
Caerse de culo.
→ To be absolutely stunned / blown away.
- something is extraordinarily impressive
- unexpected news leaves someone speechless
- someone discovers something astonishing
- a person is shocked by a revelation
- something exceeds all expectations
The expression is based on the literal image of falling backwards onto one's backside because of the force of a surprise.
The exaggeration is humorous: something is supposedly so astonishing that it physically knocks you off your feet.
It belongs to a large family of Spanish expressions that use parts of the body and physical reactions to express surprise or astonishment.
The expression can describe both positive astonishment and negative shock.
Positive
Me caí de culo cuando vi la casa.
→ I was blown away when I saw the house.
Negative
Me voy a caer de culo cuando me diga cuánto tengo que pagar.
→ I'm going to be absolutely shocked when he tells me how much I have to pay.
The context determines whether the surprise is pleasant, unpleasant or simply astonishing.
Spanish has several increasingly colloquial ways of expressing astonishment:
Quedarse boquiabierto → be open-mouthed / astonished.
Quedarse de piedra → be stunned.
Quedarse a cuadros → be completely taken aback.
Alucinar → be amazed / freak out.
Caerse de culo → be absolutely blown away.
The last one is especially vivid because the speaker imagines the surprise as having enough force to knock them physically off their feet.
The word culo makes the expression noticeably vulgar, although it is not normally considered extremely offensive.
A more neutral Spanish alternative would be:
Quedarse de piedra.
→ To be stunned / speechless.
Other possibilities include:
Quedarse a cuadros.
Alucinar.
Quedarse boquiabierto.
These are generally less vulgar.
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