Dársela con queso
To give it to someone with cheese.
to pull the wool over someone's eyes; **to pull the wool over someone's eyes**; **to con someone**; **to fool someone**; **to trick someone**; **to pass something off as something better**
Dársela con queso means to deceive someone, to con someone, to pull the wool over someone's eyes, to trick someone, or to pass something inferior off as something better.
Me la dieron con queso y compré el coche.
They pulled the wool over my eyes and I bought the car.
No te dejes engañar, que te la quieren dar con queso.
Don't let them fool you—they're trying to con you.
El vendedor me la dio con queso y me vendió un producto defectuoso.
The salesman conned me into buying a defective product.
Pensaba que era un vino excelente, pero me la dieron con queso.
I thought it was an excellent wine, but I was completely fooled.
It is especially associated with being fooled into accepting something of poor quality because it has been cleverly disguised.
- is deceived by another person
- is sold something inferior as if it were good
- falls for a trick or deception
- believes an explanation that hides the truth
- is manipulated into accepting something they would otherwise reject
The traditional explanation connects the expression with the wine trade.
A dishonest seller could offer a customer a poor or inferior wine together with cheese, whose strong flavour would mask unpleasant tastes and make the wine seem better than it really was.
The customer was therefore being deceived through a simple culinary trick.
From this practice developed the figurative expression dársela con queso: to make someone accept something bad by disguising its defects.
The historical details of the practice are difficult to verify with certainty, but the cheese-and-wine explanation is the traditional origin given for the idiom.
The expression is particularly interesting because it preserves an image from traditional Spanish food and wine culture.
It is often used when someone has been cleverly deceived, rather than simply lied to.
There is usually an implication that the victim failed to notice an obvious trick.
Spanish has several expressions connected with deception:
- Dársela con queso → to con someone.
- Dar gato por liebre → to give someone something inferior instead of what was promised.
- Vender la moto → to sell someone a story.
- Tomar el pelo → to make a fool of someone.
Among them, dársela con queso is particularly memorable because the deception is represented through an old gastronomic trick: making bad wine seem good by masking its taste with cheese.
Do not translate the expression literally.
English speakers would never say:
They gave it to me with cheese.
Instead, use expressions such as:
- They conned me.
- They pulled the wool over my eyes.
- They tricked me.
- They passed it off as something better.
If the context specifically involves selling an inferior product as a superior one, to pass something off as something better is particularly appropriate.
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